Vegan Woman Accuses Supermarket Of 'Tricking' Her Into Eating Meat

A vegan woman has slammed Coles after claiming she was 'tricked' into eating real meat.

Heidi Marshman took to Twitter to criticise the supermarket giant, posting a picture which shows chicken products alongside vegan meals in the freezer section.

Twitter/@Heidi_Marshman

She shared the picture alongside the following comment (via 7NEWS.com.au): "@Coles Is it intentional that you put non-vegan products on the shelf between 2 vegan products?

"I am disgusted that you've just tricked me into buying & eating chicken, when we are all trying so hard to save the planet. Do you not care at all?"

In response to the Tweet, Coles wrote: "Thanks for reaching out. As you can appreciate, in some instances it may be necessary to relocate items to create the additional space required to introduce new products and sections into our range.

"We attempt to create uniform layouts throughout our supermarkets, however different store sizes and physical limitations mean that this is not always possible.

"Nevertheless, your specific concerns have been noted and referred to the National Grocery Space Department for their information."

Wpcpey (Creative Commons)

With more and more meat-free options hitting the shelves to cater to the ever-growing vegan community, it's no surprise incidents like this come up every now and again.

Nonetheless, the shopper was not satisfied with the response, adding: "No I can't 'appreciate' this-it obviously means a complete lack of consideration for customers.

"Your lack of apology only goes to show how little empathy & understanding you have of this issue! & even if your excuse is true, you still wouldn't put meat items betw 2 non-meat items."

But numerous customers pointed out that the meat products in question were I'm Free From Chicken Nuggets and I'm Free From Chicken Tenders - both of which do not contain gluten and therefore belong in the free-from section.

Taking to the thread, one user wrote: "I can't eat gluten so I have to read every label, you're not smart enough to do that? These products are there for other dietary requirements too."

A second said: "Well, it's more dangerous to put gluten containing products among the gluten-free ones. That's why we read labels."

A Coles representative has since spoken with 7NEWS.com.au, saying that the firm is dedicated to offering more options for vegans and that it will investigate the customer's claims.

The spokesperson said in a statement: "We have a growing number of customers choosing to purchase vegan and meat-alternative products and we are working hard to continue to expand that range to meet their demands.

"Where possible we group similar items together, but this is not always possible due to the different shelf space and layouts in our stores across our network.

"We are concerned to hear about this customer's experience and have referred this issue to the National Grocery Space Department for their consideration."

Topics: Food, meat, Vegan, supermarket

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