NEW YORK — A California company that makes an eggless mayonnaise alternative has the U.S. egg industry scrambling.
The American Egg Board, which is responsible for the “Incredible, Edible Egg” slogan, waged a campaign to counter the emergence of Hampton Creek’s Just Mayo spread, and tried to prevent its sale at Whole Foods grocery stores, according to documents provided to The Associated Press.
The documents offer a sometimes comic glimpse into the alarm the egg group felt about the startup and its CEO, Josh Tetrick, who has said he wants to make the food system more environmentally friendly by replacing the eggs in an array of foods with plant-based alternatives.
“You want me to contact some of my old buddies in Brooklyn to pay Mr. Tetrick a visit?” one egg board executive wrote to another, presumably in jest.
Publicly, the American Egg Board has sought to downplay Hampton Creek as just another egg substitute and has avoided referring to it by name.
E-mails showed the board was troubled by the media attention being showered on Hampton Creek, which counts Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as an indirect investor through Khosla Ventures.
In an e-mailed statement Tuesday, American Egg Board CEO Joanne Ivy noted interest in egg replacers has grown.
“In response, we bolstered efforts to increase the demand for eggs and egg products through research, education and promotional activities,” Ivy said.
She said such activities are “common within the consumer products industry.”
The attempt to stop the sale of Just Mayo at Whole Foods raises regulatory questions, however.
The American Egg Board had revenue of $23.5 million last year and is supposed to promote the $5.5 billion egg category.
