Mars UK products

Mars has reversed its plans to use animal products in some of the UK's best selling chocolate brands. This follows a campaign by the Vegetarian Society and Mars has apologised to vegetarians, who were very unhappy about the company's plans. This report is read for us by Yvonne Archer:

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The Vegetarian Society organised a campaign against the move, asking members to voice their concerns to Masterfoods. And in just one week, more than 6,000 people bombarded the company with phone and e-mail complaints. Forty MPs also signed a petition to voice their opposition.

Fiona Dawson, managing director of Mars UK, said the company had listened to customers and decided to reverse its decision.

Fiona Dawson:

We have received lots of contacts from people who enjoy our products…It became very clear, very quickly, these people who love our products, actually, were very disappointed in our decision. So we realise we've made a mistake and we're terribly sorry about that and we've pulled out all the stops to reverse this and ensure that we can allow these people to continue to enjoy the brands that they love at Mars.

There are three million vegetarians in the UK but Mars upset a lot of their other consumers too. The Vegetarian Society had called the move by Mars "incomprehensible" and "a backward step". So for Liz O'Neill of the Vegetarian Society, victory was sweet indeed!

Liz O'Neill:

We are absolutely delighted that Mars Foods are celebrating National Vegetarian Week by admitting they've made a mistake. This is wonderful news.

Yvonne Archer, BBC Learning English

Listen to the words

whey
liquid that is left when the solid part is taken away from milk that isn't fresh

vegetarian
someone who doesn't eat meat or fish (usually for religious or moral reasons)

is extracted from calves'
is taken from young cows'

to voice their concerns
to say or show that they were unhappy or didn't agree with the decision

bombarded
sent a lot of messages in a short space of time

MPs also signed a petition
Members of Parliament (elected politicians) added their names to a list of other people's names who strongly requested or demanded to change something

reverse its decision
change its judgement

pulled out all the stops
did everything possible to make something happen

a backward step
towards a worse state or situation than before

victory was sweet
success made them feel very happy

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