The new five pound note, you either love it or hate it. While a lot of us first marveled over the shiny paper that looked almost as if it were indestructible, a lot of the public ridiculed it. Many comparing the brightly coloured note to Monopoly money, saying that we might as well use those too.
Whether you are for or against it, more fuel has now been added to the fire in regards to the note. It has been reported that it has traces of fat in it. While this may sound baffling, considering that we don’t eat it, the Bank of England have confirmed via Twitter that it is indeed made with fat.
The substance in specific is called tallow and has actually been used for thousands of years, mainly used in candles and soaps. However, the reason that this has caused such an uproar is because we are at least able to choose for ourselves whether we want tallow free soap or not. But in the case of the 5 pound note, it is a necessity and something we are unable to avoid, for example if you were to take out money from an ATM, you’re unable to avoid touching the note. Which of course is a problem for vegetarians, vegans and anyone who simply doesn’t eat meat at all.
Many people have taken to social media to express their mixed views over the argument. A petition is also circulating virally on change.org to remove Tallow from bank notes and it already has more than 117,000 signatures.
While we wait for any action to be done, many people have said that they would just refuse the note from a shop and just ask for change instead.
