NEW YORK — Hellmann’s mayonnaise has some egg on its face.
After suing a small California company for calling its eggless product “Just Mayo,” Hellman’s maker Unilever tweaked references on its websites to products that aren’t exactly mayonnaise either.
Unilever’s suit accuses Hampton Creek, the maker of Just Mayo, of false advertising because its product has no eggs and therefore doesn’t meet the definition for mayonnaise. The suit says the word mayo implies the product is mayonnaise, and that Just Mayo is “stealing market share from Hellmann’s.”
Michele Simon, a public health lawyer, said she was discussing the case with Hampton Creek’s founder on Friday when they noticed customer reviews on Unilever’s websites for Hellmann’s and Best Foods were being changed to describe some products as “mayonnaise dressing” rather than “mayonnaise.”
The Unilever products in question do not have enough vegetable oil to qualify as mayonnaise.
