Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise was smeared across the news last fall, thanks to a lawsuit filed by its parent company, Unilever, against fledgling vegan "mayo" purveyor Hampton Creek. The case rested on the notion that Hampton Creek's flagship product, Just Mayo, is not, in fact, mayo, according to the Food and Drug Administration's definition of mayonnaise, because it contains no eggs. About a month after filing it, Unilever dropped the lawsuit, and with good reason — it made Unilever come across as a bully, while giving Hampton Creek the kind of free publicity that money can't buy. Unfortunately for Unilever, the fallout from this lawsuit might be the least of its concerns.
According to longtime Hellmann’s loyalists and professional tasters alike, the company has been messing with the recipe for the world’s favorite mayo.
This came to my attention back when Unilever was still suing Hampton Creek. It occurred to me that Just Mayo's allegedly fraudulent use of the term "mayo" offered Hellmann's some justification for the long-standing claim on its label that the product is "Real" mayonnaise. Curious about what this "real" claim was all about, I Googled "Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise," and the top hit appeared to be a group hate session on the product. In fact, I had arrived at Hellmanns' very own product information page, which has a comment section, where a decidedly large amount of the comments were surprisingly negative. Most of the complaints charged that the Hellmann's recipe had changed, and many of these accusations bore a remarkable similarity; the new texture was repeatedly described as "soupy," for example. There were also claims that the flavor had changed, and for the worse.
For instance:
Even my husband knows it’s not the same. Instead of a thick and almost sturdy mayonnaise, the “Real” jar now contains a oily oozy glop. Really, change it back. If my husband can tell it’s different, then everyone knows. Please, change it back. This is a total wipeout.
My curiosity peaked by these allegations about the world’s top-selling mayonnaise brand, I went out and bought myself a new jar. (I also bought a jar of Just Mayo, because I was also curious about this mayo-like substance that Unilever finds so threatening. It’s pretty good, though among fake mayos I still prefer Vegenaise.)
As a self-styled mayo expert that has ingested gallons of Hellmann’s, I can state with a bit of authority that there is indeed a difference. The new jar was less viscous than I recalled. As for the flavor, I wasn’t as certain, but it didn’t seem as bright and zingy as I remembered.
I contacted Unilever, both as a distressed consumer and as a member of the media. My consumer complaint got this response:
“[W]e would like to assure you that our formula has not changed.”
My media inquiry received a slightly more detailed statement: “Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise flavor, our specific ingredients, and our recipe have remained consistent over time.”
Pressed for clarification, Unilever spokeswoman Jaime Stein said,
“There has been no change that would lead to recent comments, in fact there have been no recipe changes for almost a decade.”
Indeed, in March 2006 a Hellmann's representative admitted to recipe changes in an email exchange with Chris Phillips of the Kitchn. In an email that Phillips kindly shared with me, a Unilever rep wrote:
In March, to improve the stability and quality of our Real mayonnaise products, Hellmann’s has slightly increased the sodium level. This ensures a consistent high quality product throughout the product’s 9 month shelf life.
In 2003, whole eggs & egg yolks have become the third ingredients. This minor modification will improve product stability & result in less separation. Every effort is made to ensure that we maintain the great taste and quality of our mayonnaise to which our consumers have become accustomed.
While this corroborated my media inquiry, it shot down the response that my consumer inquiry had received.
Meanwhile, I had discovered another apparent change by comparing the ingredient list on my new jar with a Google image search for “Hellmann’s label”: Lemon juice concentrate now appears where lemon juice used to. I wondered if that change explained the duller flavor I’d read about and noticed myself.
But Anita Larsen, director of communications for Unilever in North America, told me via email that the difference between lemon juice and lemon juice concentrate is simply semantic. She wrote, “The use of lemon juice concentrate in Hellmann’s Real is not a recipe change, simply a label update-so this is unrelated to any particular complaints you may see.”
It was Unilever's word against my-and dozens of irate, if amateur, commenters'-taste buds. It was certainly possible, if not likely, that we were all deluding ourselves, so I contacted someone who I thought could weigh in on this matter with authority and objectivity, an expert taster whose job is to notice differing minutiae in food products. Joanne Seltsam is a descriptive taster at Sensory Spectrum, a consulting firm that specializes in the "sensory consumer experience." In my 2013 article about why Hellmann's mayo is so great, Seltsam had raved about Hellmann's as being a nearly perfect product.
In light of the recent allegations, I convinced Seltsam to pick up a new jar and give it a try. Here is what she wrote to me after she conducted an informal taste test with some colleagues.
The texture is definitely different. It’s much smoother (used to have a rougher, almost curdled appearance when you dragged a utensil through it). This new texture is apparent in mouth as well (if you eat it from a spoon-not sure if you’d notice after spread on a piece of bread with turkey and cheese on it …). The new texture is more characteristic of their low(er) fat version.
This would appear to vindicate those irate commenters-but Seltsam informed me that just because Hellmann’s may be different, it doesn’t mean the ingredients, or “formula,” changed per se. The difference could be due to what Seltsam calls a “processing parameter,” which she explained is “a change in the processing, like temp, or the order the ingredients are added, or even a new piece of equipment.” Inconsistencies in storage conditions could play a role as well.
Unilever’s Larsen emailed that according to the company’s records, there has actually been “a decrease in consumer complaints within the last year.” Well, kudos to Unilever for allowing such floods of negativity to remain online for all to see. But if Seltsam’s panel of experts say that something is different, I’m inclined to believe them.
About the Author
