Bovril - Licensed Production

Licensed Production

Bovril is also produced in South Africa by the Bokomo division of Pioneer Foods The product range includes a version with chili. The manufacturer also hoped to increase exports (Unilever UK & Ireland Export) to Asian countries such as Malaysia, a primarily Muslim country where the government was becoming restrictive regarding non-halal meat. By changing Bovril to a non-meat base, Unilever hoped to increase sales there, where people enjoy Bovril stirred into porridge.

The removal of beef from the recipe in 2004 was not without criticism, with many complaining that the new variant did not taste the same and had a different mouth feel. Beef extract was eventually reintroduced as a key Bovril ingredient in 2006, after the European Commission lifted its ban on the export of Britain's beef products; it was only at this point that the manufacturer stated explicitly that this had been the main reason for beef's removal.

During the Siege of Ladysmith in the Second Boer War, a Bovril-like paste was unofficially produced from horse meat within the garrison. Nicknamed Chevril (by replacing the Bov (ox) with Chev (horse) in the Bovril name) it was produced by boiling down horse meat or mules to a jelly paste and serving it as a beef tea.