THE owner of a vegan cafe has spoken of her disappointment after it emerged the new £5 note contains animal products.

Wendy Cooke said she legally has to accept the fivers, which contain traces of tallow, a rendered form of beef or mutton fat.

Miss Cooke, who runs The Planet cafe in Paul Street, Taunton, said: "I obviously don't like it.

"You'd have thought we'd have got further along now than using animal products to produce our currency - the new Scottish notes don't have animal products. You'd think there'd be another product.

"By law, I have to accept the new fiver as its legal currency.

"A few customers have mentioned it - and not just vegans, vegetarians and animal rights people.

"I've noticed in the last couple of weeks we've had a lot more coins instead of the £5 note."

Miss Cooke added: "It's just not having a choice that's frustrating.

"I can choose not to wear leather shoes, but I can't choose not to have a £5 if it's given to me.

"There's nothing else from an animal in the cafe, just the fivers.

"I'd prefer not to have them, but it's at the point where I have to."

A Bank of England spokesman said there is a "trace of tallow in the polymer pellets used in the base substrate of the polymer £5 notes".

He added: "We are aware of some people's concerns about traces of tallow in our new £5 note.

"We respect those concerns and are treating them with the utmost seriousness.

"This issue has only just come to light and the Bank did not know about it when the contract was signed.

"Information recently provided by our supplier, Innovia, and its supply chain shows that an extremely small amount of tallow is used in an early stage of the production process of polymer pellets, which are then used to create the base substrate for the £5 note.

"Innovia is now working intensively with its supply chain and will keep the Bank informed on progress towards potential solutions.”

An Innovia spokeswoman said finding an alternative will take time as "it's a difficult process".

FIVER FILE.

*Around 120,000 people have signed a petition calling for tallow to be removed from fivers.

*The notes are banned in Hindu temples.

*A vegetarian cafe in Cambridge refuses to accept the notes.

*Professor David Solomon, who helped invent the new style notes in Australia 28 years ago, said the row is "definitely stupid". He said: "If there was any tallow in there at all, it's buried in there."

*The new £5 notes are longer lasting and difficult to forge.

*A new polymer £10 note is being introduced next year and a £20 note by 2020.