By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

The VRG received an email inquiry asking us to look into 7-Eleven pizza ingredients. The reader had been trying to get answers from the chain with no luck. For example, is the crust or red sauce vegan?

(EDITORS NOTE: See bottom of this article for vegan pizza ideas. There are so many frozen vegan pizzas now and restaurants offering vegan pizza, this is your best bet. We’ve come a long way since our staff would order pizza without cheese. But we would still recommend that method as a good way to go sometimes if you don’t want the fat in vegan or non-vegan cheese, and want to load up with vegetables on the crust.)

In January 2020, The VRG sent a contact request form through the 7-Eleven website asking for a complete ingredient statement for the cheese pizza.

We specifically wanted to know:

1. Is the cheese made with animal rennet?
2. Are there animal fats (such as lard) in the crust or sauce?
3. Is the dough made with animal- or human hair-derived L-cysteine?

We also called the 7-Eleven consumer line. They wrote down our questions, and told us they would send them to the corporate office. It would take 3-5 business days to get a response.

A few days later we received an email from a 7-Eleven business consultant for the Maryland region. That email contained the ingredient list for the cheese pizza:

“CHEESE PIZZA 2019
INGREDIENTS: CHEESE (LOW MOISTURE MOZZARELLA CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED MILK, SALT, ENZYMES), CHEDDAR CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED MILK, SALT, ENZYMES, ANNATTO (COLOR)), PARMESAN CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED PART SKIM MILK, SALT, ENZYMES), WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, TOMATO PASTE, NONFAT MILK, YEAST, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN AND/OR CANOLA OIL), SUGAR, PALM OIL, SALT, FERMENTED RYE FLOUR, MALTODEXTRIN, WHEAT GLUTEN, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, FLAVOR (WATER, CONCENTRATED SPONGE EXTRACT), DRIED GARLIC, SPICE, DATEM, DEXTROSE, GUAR GUM, XANTHAN GUM, SOY LECITHIN, ASCORBIC ACID (DOUGH CONDITIONER), NIACIN, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), REDUCED IRON, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR, WHEAT STARCH, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID, FERROUS SULFATE, ENZYMES CONTAINS MILK, SOY AND WHEAT,WHOLE”

VRG NOTE: “Concentrated sponge extract” is a vegetable- and microbial-sourced ingredient made of water, wheat flour, and microbes.

From this ingredient statement, we concluded that there were no animal fats such as lard (except from dairy) in the sauce or dough. L-cysteine was NOT used as a dough conditioner.

Because the source of the cheese enzymes was not specified, we asked for more information. Kelly soon relayed:

“Took a little while but here is the manufacture’s response: ‘The enzymes in the cheeses come from microbial sources.’”

At this time, our inquirer reported some other information. She related: “I managed to get a pizza [box] from the cashier the other night and read the contact info!”

So she wrote directly to the company on the box. She asked the company:

“Menu Solutions was listed on the back of this product as the customer contact website. I am a consumer who has been trying to find out 1) if the cheese on these pizzas has animal rennet; and 2) if the sauce and crust have vegan or vegetarian ingredients (no animal products or ONLY dairy/egg).  Thank you.”

She then shared with us the response she had received. It was from Scot at Schwan’s in Minnesota, the apparent parent company of Menu Solutions, located in Colorado. (The Menu Solutions website redirected to Schwan’s.)

 “The cheese enzyme is microbial-sourced. There is no egg; however, there is milk in the product. In addition, the product is not certified vegan.”

Happy to have received a response, the inquirer then asked: “In the cheese pizza, is there any pork or seafood by-products (or any animal by-products other than the dairy)?”

Scot replied: “There is no pork nor seafood in the product. There are no animal [ingredients] other than dairy.”

When I asked the inquirer what she observed when 7-Eleven staff warmed the pizza, she detailed:

“At 7-11 stores, you can see them get the pre-made pizza out…They put it on a sheet of paper and put it into their high-speed oven. That’s here in Denver…”

She mentioned that there is a “high-end” 7-Eleven in her city that makes its own crust. She stated: “The one that makes its own is one of 7-Eleven’s new concept stores. They have an actual full kitchen. They even sell ‘tap’ kombucha.”

Interested readers can find out more about 7-Eleven’s concept stores in this article.

Wanting to know more about the concept stores’ ingredients, The Vegetarian Resource Group posed this question to Kelly at 7-Eleven: “One of our members told us that a 7-Eleven in her city (Denver) makes its own pizza. How common is this?

“She also said that another store uses the food service branch of Menu Solutions whose website redirected to Schwan’s based in Minnesota. If true, does Schwan’s supply the entire USA? So, the information you’ve provided about ingredients is true for ALL 7-Eleven stores (that don’t make their own pizza) in the USA?

Also, what is the protocol for warming/cooking the pizza? Could it be prepared close to animal foods or on the same surface as animal foods (including eggs)?”

Kelly responded to The VRG:

“1. All pizza is from the same distributor, so yes, [ingredients] would be the same.
2. We cook the pizza in the same oven as the chicken, beef patties.”

Wanting more detail on the kitchen protocol, we asked: “Do you sanitize the oven between uses? Do you use a baking sheet of some type?”

Kelly replied: “The oven is cleaned and sanitized once a day. We use paper and cooking sheets to cook the product.”

The VRG then asked “Are the paper and cooking sheets changed for each product?”

Kelly responded: “They are supposed to change each time.”

VRG Recommendations

When in doubt about ingredients and you find the staff to be unable to answer your questions, request to see the food packaging. Look for an ingredients label and supplier information. Follow up directly with the supplier if store staff cannot help you.

To avoid cross contamination with animal foods when dining out, ask for a clean baking sheet for your meal and request that it be prepared separately.

TO FIND SOME VEGAN PIZZAS
See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2018issue1/2018_issue1_vegan_pizzas.php

TO MAKE YOU OWN VEGAN PIZZA
See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2018issue2/2018_issue2_pizza_creations.php

YOU CAN FIND VEGAN PIZZAS AT MANY AMERICAN AND CANADIAN VEGGIE RESTAURANTS
See: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

We appreciate the responses from 7-11. Not all businesses are as quick to answer. 

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

For information about other restaurant chains, see https://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php