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Angry vegetarians hit out as Bank of England confirms new plastic £5 note contains animal fat

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – SEPTEMBER 13: Bank of England governor Mark Carney poses with a new polymer five pound note at Whitecross Street Market on September 13, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. The new plastic note is designed to be more durable and features a portrait of former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The Bank of England has revealed the new plastic £5 note is not suitable for vegetarians as it contains an animal product.

Responding to a number of tweets, the Bank conceded the polymer note contains tallow, a product made from animal fat that is often used in candles and soap.

A petition has now been launched calling for such animal products to be banned from the production process and its has gathered almost 20,000 signatures.

The Bank’s official Twitter feed appeared to send out a prepared response to those who were asking about the presence of tallow.

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It read: “There is a trace of tallow in the polymer pellets used in the base substrate of the polymer £5 notes.”

The online petition, which has been signed by 19,926 people reads: “The new £5 notes contain animal fat in the form of tallow. This is unacceptable to millions of vegans & vegetarians in the U.K. We demand that you cease to use animal products in the production of currency that we have to use.”

Those who have signed it include Martha McCoss, who comments: “Why would a piece of money ever need to contain something from an animal? Ridiculous. Surely there’s substitutes and materials that can do the exact same thing, even before i was vegan id think what the **** why is this needed!!”

And Irene Crammond adds: “There are millions of vegetarians and vegans whose feelings have been totally disregarded. They have no choice but to handle these notes against their beliefs…it’s shocking!!!!”

There has been no indication from the Bank that it intends to change the production process.