New £5 notes and why vegetarians won't accept it

[Frolicking Ferrets]

Here's something interesting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-38184599
The new £5 note contains animal products?????

[LPC]

Yes, this is being discussed on other animal and pet forums. I'm glad that you mentioned it.

There is some tallow in the new £5 notes. Tallow "is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, processed from suet." according to Wikipedia. It is therefore unacceptable to vegetarians as well as vegans. It is also unacceptable to Sikhs (who are generally vegetarians), Jains (who will not kill or harm any living creature) and Hindus (for whom the cow is sacred).

I think the company which was asked to produce the notes for the bank of England is already looking into an alternative method avoiding tallow. It should have thought of the issue before accepting the contract.

There is a bit more detail here: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/738178/What-is-tallow-why-there-animal-fat-new-5-note-vegetarian

[Tobi]

Yes a lack of proper thought before making those notes has ended in a problem. But what's obvious is that people are more aware nowadays than they would have been in the past, and I think that's a good thing.

By the way those notes are dreadful. They are very hard to fold and don't fit well into tiny purses. They also slip easily out of pockets! "Plastic money"...who would have thought we would ever live to experience that!!

[Monox D. I-Fly]

"Plastic money"...who would have thought we would ever live to experience that!!

We Indonesians have been using plastic money since 1999, though only the highest value in the currency uses plastic.