Slacktivist vegetarians and vegans have been writing strongly worded tweets after the Bank of England confirmed that there are animal fats in the new polymer £5 notes.

The plastic fivers were introduced earlier this year to replace the UK’s battered and disintegrating stocks of paper £5 notes.

While at the time the bank was keen to talk about how robust and harder-to-forge the new placcy notes would be, various scamps have since put them through washing machines, shrunk them in intense heat and even used them as car windscreen de-icers.

Now, however, the Bank of England has fallen foul of veggie-eaters and their fellow travellers after admitting that rendered beef fat is used in production of the new notes.

@SteffiRox there is a trace of tallow in the polymer pellets used in the base substrate of the polymer £5 notes — Bank of England (@bankofengland) November 28, 2016

The Twitter admission that the polymer used in the new fivers contains traces of tallow, rendered beef or mutton fat, caused instant uproar among those who deprive themselves of meat and meat-based treats.

An inevitable change.org petition has been set up and signed by around 5,000 superior individuals at the time of writing.

One petitioner wrote: “It may only be a trace amount, but it's still an unnecessary waste of life. It's also forcing the responsibility of death of the animals used to manufacture these notes upon every individual that uses them, ie [sic] most of the population of England.”

The usual outrage promptly erupted on Twitter and this was one of the saner remarks:

@bankofengland @SteffiRox Gives a whole new meaning to the term "blood money" Horrified to discover this - absolutely appalling! 😧 — Atina🌱 (@AtinaTweets) November 28, 2016

Back in 2001, McDonalds faced a £70m lawsuit after it was discovered to have been using beef fat for pre-frying its chips prior to sending them to its fast food outlets. A mob in India smashed up a restaurant as a result, according to the Daily Telegraph. ®