A vegan food brand endorsed by Nigella Lawson and other celebrities has recalled all its yoghurt products after they were found to contain milk.
Co Yo, which was founded by a police officer while she was on maternity leave, has withdrawn all five flavours of its “dairy-free coconut milk yoghurt” because it contained “undeclared” milk.
The government’s food watchdog, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), said consumers should take the yoghurt back to shops as it posed a health risk to people with dairy allergies.
Co Yo said it was “devastated” that its yoghurt contained dairy and blamed the contamination on an external third-party supplier with which it has terminated its relationship.
The brand boasts on its website of “a large celebrity fanbase including Fearne Cotton, Boy George, Nigella Lawson, who features Co Yo in her book, Simply Nigella, and prominent food blogger Ella Woodward, who has developed recipes using the products”.
In a statement, the company referred to the recall as precautionary. “During recent product testing, a small amount of dairy has been found in our Co Yo yoghurts.
“We are devastated by this, especially as being dairy-free sits at the heart of everything we do and we’ve always taken great care to ensure we provide our customers with high-quality, dairy-free products, made in our own dairy-free factory.”
Co Yo was launched six years ago by Bethany Eaton, 38, a mother-of-two from Kent and is sold in Waitrose, Selfridges and Tesco as well as Fortnum & Mason and Whole Foods Market – the UK’s largest vegan retailer. The company turned over £4.5m last year. It is still based in Kent and co-owned by Eaton and her husband Paul.
The company advised its customers: “If you have any Co Yo products with a ‘use by’ date earlier than and including Friday 16th March, please contact the store you purchased from for a full refund. If you have any concerns about any of our products please don’t hesitate to contact us. Once again, we would like to apologise to all our customers for any concern this may have caused.”
The company, which also makes dairy-free ice-cream, says its yoghurt “is handcrafted from the squeezed flesh of the coconut, to which we add five carefully sourced plant-fed vegan cultures producing a velvety smooth dairy-free alternative. There are no added sweeteners or preservatives, just simple, whole ingredients”.
