After suing a small California company for calling its product Just Mayo because the product is made without eggs, it was discovered that Unilever had tweaked its website to make clear that some of its own salad dressings also do not contain mayonnaise, but were described in the same way.

The suit accuses Hampton Creek of false advertising, with Unilever saying the word mayo implies that the product is mayonnaise.

It says Just Mayo is "stealing market share from Hellmann's".

Michele Simon, a public health lawyer, said websites for Hellmann's and Best Foods "were changing right before our eyes".

She said customer reviews were also changed to add the word "dressing" after mayonnaise.

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