Big Tobacco, Big Oil, now Big Mayo?

Thats what Josh Tetrick, founder and chief executive of Hampton Creek in San Francisco, feels like hes facing in a lawsuit filed against his vegan start-up by multinational food giant Unilever.

------------ FOR THE RECORD Nov. 10, 1:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this post misspelled Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick's last name as Petrick. ------------

The $67.4-billion company says Tetricks firm is engaging in false advertising by describing its Just Mayo sandwich spread as mayonnaise, even though it contains no eggs.

Big Mayo strikes, said Tetrick, who believes his company is absolved of false advertising claims because his spread uses the colloquialism mayo and not mayonnaise. U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines for mayonnaise contain egg yolk.

Tetrick said Hampton Creek plans to file a countersuit in the coming weeks that would likely focus on Unilevers sustainability practices.

Unilever is seeking compensation for lost profits and damages and demanding that Hampton Creek refrain from declaring Just Mayo superior in taste to Unilevers Best Foods and Hellmans brands of mayonnaise.

"We brought this lawsuit because use of the Just Mayo name blatantly misleads consumers," a Unilever spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. "In fact, the product is Just NOT Mayo as it does not contain one of mayonnaises key ingredients -- eggs -- in violation of the federal regulations that are in place to protect consumers."

The British-Dutch company filed its lawsuit Oct. 31 in federal court in Newark, N.J.

Just Mayo burst onto the health food scene last year with high-profile financial backing from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Li Ka-shing, Asias richest tycoon.

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Vegan mayonnaise maker sued by food giant Unilever