Saturday, September 26, 2009

Camy Shanghai Dumplings - non vegan vegetarian dumplings??

Well, my world has just been seriously rocked! Greg & I went to the show today & on the way home we thought that we would pop into Camy's to get some frozen dumplings to make for dinner tonight. I have not bought the frozen dumplings before & was surprised that they come in nice packaging & I actually said to Greg that I was interested to see what the ingredients would be since the staff are not so helpful in answering questions.

The mushroom & vegetable dumplings have CHICKEN BOOSTER in them!!!! What the hell is this & what is it doing in my dumplings????? I have googled it & seems to be like chicken stock. I eat these dumplings at least once a week & this has completely ruined my day. I am hoping that by some chance this chicken booster is not made from chicken but am guessing that it is :(

If anyone can shed any light on what this is it would be much appreciated because I am addicted to these dumplings!
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14 comments:

  1. CindySeptember 26, 2009 at 6:33 PM

    Whoah! This is a worry - I guess it could be a veg*n-friendly flavouring like Massel stock powder but I don't know how likely that is. Thanks for posting about this, it's one to chase up for sure.

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  2. TahnSeptember 27, 2009 at 10:43 AM

    How annoying and upsetting is it to find out something you have been eating is not vegan?!
    I continually check labels because things you thought were vegan can suddenly change their ingredients without your knowledge. So frustrating!

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  3. lisaSeptember 27, 2009 at 2:51 PM

    Outrageous! I'm sad too. Cindy may be right, but how do we find out? Maybe a call to the manufacturer is required. (Also, I just always assumed Camy's made the dumplings on site!!)

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  4. VickiSeptember 27, 2009 at 3:17 PM

    I think that they are made on site because the packaging is under the name of Shanghai Dumpling House & the address is Tattersalls Lane & there is also a warehouse address listed on the packaging in Collingwood.

    I also bought frozen vegetarian buns & they were in the same packaging but their ingredients were all fine.

    Maybe a call to Camy's is in order to get some more information.

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  5. KSeptember 27, 2009 at 5:11 PM

    Is it possible to take a pic of the part of packaging that has Chinese listing of ingredients? Sometimes they don't translate well and hoping that is just it. I can get my partner to read the Chinese and double check! It's wishful thinking but I love the dumplings

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  6. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2009 at 9:21 AM

    I would like to know whats in the pumpkin cakes as well...

    ARGH sucks SO HARD.. thank you so much for posting this

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  7. xSeptember 29, 2009 at 9:51 AM

    Ew! That is so disappointing. I've picked up a few packets of frozen products in Vegan's Choice Newtown only to find someone has put a line through some e numbers with black marker. The numbers underneath are not vegan so I won't buy the products.

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  8. VickiOctober 1, 2009 at 7:26 PM

    Carla - I have no idea what is in the pumpkin cakes. I have never had them but always think they look good. They now have pumpkin dumplings too but who knows what is in them!

    Mandee - I saw the same sort of thing just this week! I was in my favourite asian supermarket & in the vego section there were some packets & in the ingredients list they had whey crossed out in black texta - dodgy!

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  9. KOctober 2, 2009 at 9:41 AM

    Hey, are you able to take a pic of the chinese ingredients on the packet so I can double check?

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  10. VickiOctober 2, 2009 at 9:49 AM

    They don't have the ingredients in chinese on the packet - only in english! The packaging is pretty much all in english.

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  11. anna-liseNovember 8, 2009 at 12:45 AM

    I have just been trying to google 'chicken booster' to find out what it is, and had no luck until I chanced upon this blog; still don't know what it is though! I went to camy's tonight and then, on a whim, bought a pack of frozen dumplings, but nearly died when i got home and looked at the ingredients. my vego friend has always been reluctant to eat their cos she reckons that chinese food is always cooked in/with meat juices ... I was in China in April and I can confirm that meat is a massive part of their diet and i wouldn't be surprised if there's lots of meat stock and stuff at camy's ... which makes me so sad b/c i love the place!!

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  12. anna-liseNovember 8, 2009 at 12:49 AM

    Homophone alert - meant to write 'there' not 'their' - as an English teacher I had to make the correction (call me a pedant!!).

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  13. VickiNovember 9, 2009 at 8:38 PM

    Anna-lise - yeah I was pretty shattered when I found out. I used to eat there every week & was completely addicted! I really want to know if it is also in the spinach dumplings or just the mushroom/veg dumplings. I think it is all the more annoying because they call them vegetarian when there seems to be some sort of chicken product in them.

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  14. UnknownJanuary 10, 2010 at 11:48 AM

    I googled chicken booster, and a few things came up, it seems to be some kind of flavoring with multiple ingredients, one of them being chicken powder... (I think Massel might make one too, but i doubt that is what they use...) here is a link to a couple of 'chicken booster' products...

    http://www.gffoodservice.co.nz/products/stocks-and-boosters/stocks/white-wings-chicken-booster/166/product.aspx

    http://www.nestleprofessional.com/australia/en/BrandsAndProducts/Brands/MAGGI_CLASSIC/Pages/MAGGI_Chicken_Flavoured_Booster_2_4kg.aspx

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