Despite sales of meat-free alternatives rising by 40 per cent between 2014 to 2019, sales are now falling. Photo / Getty Images
Despite sales of meat-free alternatives rising by 40 per cent between 2014 to 2019, sales are now falling. Photo / Getty Images
These meatless subsitutes contain a litany of highly processed ingredients – and supermarket sales are falling.
A quick trawl through the vegan sausage options in the supermarket shows up an unappetising smorgasbord of ingredients, none of which you would find in your cupboard at home or are particularly good for our health: methylcellulose (a stabiliser), calcium alginate (a “gelling agent”), sodium sulphite, pea protein isolate and something called “functional binder”. Mmm, yum.
Researchers found that every 10 per cent increase in plant-based foods was associated with a 20 per cent reduction in deaths from heart disease, if the fare was not ultra-processed. When the increase came from plant-based ultra-processed foods, it was linked to a 12 per cent increase in such deaths.
Despite sales of meat-free alternatives rising by 40 per cent between 2014 to 2019, sales are falling. It begs the question: is the meat-free option no longer to our palate? One British sausage maker axed almost its entire range of vegan products, after admitting that demand had plummeted. Heck, based in Yorkshire, said it had cut the size of its vegan range from around 15 products to just two as shoppers’ interest had waned.
Sales of meat-free products fell by £37.3 million ($77.18m) in British supermarkets over the year to September 2022, according to figures from NielsenIQ published in trade magazine The Grocer, while the number of meat alternative lines stocked by the “big five” supermarkets fell by 10.9 per cent over the six months to March 20.
With the meat-free market worth over £570million in 2022, that’s just a 6.5 per cent drop – hardly falling off a cliff. But it’s a reversal in an area that has up until now seemed unstoppable – a plant-based gravy train for producers.
In 2020, we picked up about 25 million tonnes of vegan meat alternatives from the chiller cabinet – up 70 per cent from 2018. It could be that we are getting more particular about what we eat. While vegan alternatives may benefit the planet (although not lab-grown meat, as recent analysis suggests it could have a carbon footprint up to 25 times that of conventional meat), they aren’t necessarily good for our health.
Vegan sausages contain a litany of highly processed ingredients. For the body of the sausage, pea protein is the main ingredient – the jury is still out on how processed this is compared to the other ingredients, because you can make something similar at home with flour and water.
Linda McCartney’s vegetarian sausages have a higher percentage of textured soy protein, while in Quorn sausages, it is mycoprotein, a yeast-like mass grown industrially in vats.
All of these additives and oils are deemed safe, but they are also ingredients that plant the bangers firmly in the “ultra-processed food” category – the kind of food that is increasingly being blamed for causing obesity and ill health. So why are they used?
As Dr Chris van Tulleken sums it up in his new book Ultra Processed People, they are usually there “to replace the ingredients of a traditional and much-loved food with cheaper alternatives and additives that extend shelf life, facilitate centralised distribution and, it turns out, drive excess consumption”. Be wary of health claims touted on the packets, too.
Of course, “real” meat sausages aren’t healthy – with few exceptions, they contain processed meat, defined as “meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation” by the World Health Organisation. Processed meat has been designated as a Group 1 carcinogen by the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer.
It seems mad that an animal should be reared and slaughtered for a service station sausage or a rubbery hot dog. Photo / 123rf
It’s not just the colorectal cancer risk from processed meat that is an issue with sausages. There’s the salt levels: a couple of bangers can easily contain 2g of salt – a third of your daily limit. Then there’s the saturated fat – 7g perhaps in the same serving, which is nearly a quarter of your daily allowance. Not a disaster, but a hefty chunk. Add in buttery mashed potatoes and you could easily double that. Vegan versions vary wildly, with some carrying similar levels of salt and saturated fat to the meat versions, some less.
I’ve long been an advocate for vegan junk food. According to research published in the medical journal The Lancet, by 2050 we need to reduce our meat consumption to 300g a week for the sake of the planet. Then there are ethical concerns: it seems mad that an animal should be reared and slaughtered for a service station sausage or a rubbery hot dog, both of which can be replicated impressively by modern plant-based technology. And sure, they aren’t healthy, but neither are the meaty alternatives. If people want to eat them, why not eat the mock-meat versions?
We need, however, to tread carefully. According to van Tulleken, ultra-processed food “damages the planet”. He says: “The food system necessary for its production, and of which it is the necessary product, is the leading cause of declining biodiversity and the second-largest contributor to global emissions.”
Nonetheless, I suspect vegan sausages are here to stay. But if you want to stick to a proper pork banger, it’s no less good for you – just choose the one with the shortest ingredients list, made with the best meat you can afford. There’s no fairy godmother to wave her wand and make them a healthy choice, but a little of what you fancy? Why not?
