Only just recently found out that Bovril had gone veggie. They switched their recipe when the "mad cow disease" forced a ban on British beef exports. I only just found out that they had switched to being veggie instead of beef when they re-instated the the beefy recipe.
Oh well, I managed to get 2 small vegetarian jars before Sainsbury's ran out and they were all beefy again.
According to Wikipedia:
"In November of 2004, the manufacturers, Unilever, announced that the composition of Bovril was being changed from beef to a yeast extract, both in the hope of allaying fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and to make the product suitable for vegetarians and vegans. According to Unilever, "in blind taste tests, 10% didn't notice any difference in taste, 40% preferred the original and 50% preferred the new product."
The manufacturers also hoped to increase exports to Asian countries such as Malaysia, a primarily Muslim country where the government was becoming restrictive regarding non-halal meat. By changing Bovril to a non-meat base, Unilever hoped to increase sales in the country, where people enjoy Bovril stirred into coffee and porridge.
The removal of beef from the recipe in 2004 was not without criticism, with many complaining that the new variant did not taste the same and had a different mouth feel. One individual even set aside space on his own website to try and persuade Unilever to re-release the old formula Bovril with beef extract.
Beef extract was eventually re-introduced as a key Bovril ingredient in 2006, after the European Union lifted its ban on Britain's beef products."
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