Federal Egg Lobby Solicited Blogs, Food Personalities To Attack Vegan Nemesis Hampton Creek

Over the last year, a government-regulated lobby group, the American Egg Board (AEB), conspired to defame Hampton Creek, the vegan startup behind Just Mayo, whose positive media coverage — including support from celebrity chef and Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern — seems to represent a huge threat to the egg production industry.

No doubt fueled in part by a bird flu virus that forced the culling of millions of American poultry, Hampton Creek's search for a vegan alternative to the egg was identified as "a crisis and major threat to the future" by the AEB, according to documents obtained exclusively by The Guardian.

Among the many efforts executed by the AEB and its supporters to take down Hampton Creek and its CEO, Josh Tetrick, the lobby group attempted to "confront" Just Mayo sympathizer Andrew Zimmern and "target" BuzzFeed and other publications that had written positive coverage of the startup, according to The Guardian.

The AEB also attempted to solicit the public support of animal rights advocate Temple Grandin and Food Network personality Ree Drummond — both of whom declined.

So far, at least one public health attorney who was asked to review the documents within the AEB network confirmed that the lobby was in breach of a USDA regulation prohibiting "any advertising (including press releases) deemed disparaging to another commodity."