IN late December 2015, ((Sorry, I missed it then.)) the Food and Drug Administration agreed to let Hampton Creek call its eggless emulsion of fats and liquids Just Mayo, as long as the company also tweaked the label to comply with other rules. For one, the nutrition guidelines on the new label are in a black box, just as they are supposed to be. ((Peter Hertzmann mentioned this in our podcast on the topic.)) Also gone, for reasons unexplained, the words Dairy-free, Lactose-free and kosher. Here’s hoping no lactose-intolerant observant Jews are affected.

One big change is that the label now describes the contents of the jar as a “spread & dressing”. The old label didn’t actually have such a description. Maybe some people thought is was, er, just mayo.

And that’s the other change. Hampton Creek has explained that just relates to “justice,” rather than “only”. As the New York Times explained:

[T]he label will define the word “just” in the brand name to mean “guided by reason, justice and fairness” instead of suggesting that it was an exact replica of mayonnaise.

And, as I pointed out last November, all this is about an ingredient present in such small quantities that it doesn’t even figure on the label. I wonder whether Vegenaise will now change it’s brand. Not if it listens to Josh Tetrick:

“Number one, never use the word ‘vegan,’”