Morrisons pulls vegan pork pie from Melton Mowbray store to avoid ‘causing offence’

The porkless pie won't be sold in the Leicestershire town, known as the home of the pork pie, due to a fear of offending customers

A supermarket has decided against stocking its vegan ‘pork’ pie in the Leicestershire town famed for the meat pastry.

Morrisons is set to launch its “no pork” pie across stores nationwide on Monday – with the noted exception of its Melton Mowbray branch.

An internal memo said it would not be sold in the town so as “to avoid any offence”, citing the “strong heritage with the traditional pork pie”.

Melton Mowbray pork pies, which have been made in the Leicestershire town since the 18th century, are unique for their use of uncured pork. The meat pies even have protected European Union status.

‘Avoiding offence’

The leaked memo to Morrisons staff said: “As Melton Mowbray is celebrated around the world as the home of the original pork pie, the decision has been taken that only pork pies made following the traditional meat based recipe should be stocked in the store.

“Melton Mowbray residents are known for being fans/ambassadors of ‘their’ pork pie and so to avoid any offence we’ll be delisting the vegan pork pie in this store.”

Melton Mowbray pork pies have been made in the Leicestershire town since the 18th century and are distinct for their use of uncured pork (Photo: Chaloner Woods/Getty Images)

The chain told staff to direct customers requesting the vegan version in the local store to customer services for delivery.

The chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association, Matthew O’Callaghan, welcomed the supermarket chain’s decision.

He said: “I think it’s a misuse of the name. It’s a bit like vegan cheese. It’s not cheese because cheese is made with milk.

“If it’s good, call it something else, and it will get that reputation and acquire that name.”

Despite strong local sentiment over the Melton Mowbray’s historic links to meat pies, this year’s winner of the British Pie Awards held in the town was a vegan pastry.

Social media reactions

People quickly took to Twitter to debate Morrisons’ decision.

One user @zoeharcombe, celebrated the move, writing: “A round of applause for Melton Mowbray. Pork pies should contain pork.”

However, another user @LearnerVegan quipped: “And they say vegans are ‘snowflakes'”.

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