Vegan Quorn in the UK
I have been asked about this topic so many times over the past few years, I’ve actually got a pre-prepared response that I copy and paste.
What is the topic? Vegan Quorn products in the UK.
I’m going to have to change my usual response of ‘soon’ and ‘I don’t know’ because vegan Quorn products are about to crash land on the UK vegan landscape in a big way.
Check out the first two lines coming to a major UK supermarket next month.
As you can see above, Quorn have not been shy about featuring the word ‘vegan’ on the packaging of their Hot & Spicy Burgers and Meat Free Pieces.
The press release from the company included the following insights from Peter Harrison, marketing director:
The Quorn Vegan Range has been over three years in development and during that time, we’ve seen a real shift in the number of consumers choosing to adopt a vegan lifestyle and a massive increase in demand, particularly apparent across our digital channels. We have been particularly impressed by four consumer-led petitions in support of a Quorn Vegan Range.
While ethics and the environment are at the heart of veganism, vegans have historically been driven by a passion for animals and our planet and have used their diet to demonstrate their beliefs. However, more and more people who are adopting veganism are now also doing so because of the associated healthy living benefits. Consumers are starting to learn that veganism is a great way to live a healthy lifestyle.
Consumers – both existing Quorn buyers and new customers – have been asking us for some time to provide a solution for vegans. So, as we know a lot of people eat Quorn as part of a vegetarian lifestyle before becoming vegan, we’re thrilled to be able to offer them products which are tasty and deliver on the great texture expected of Quorn, whilst following a vegan recipe.
It is interesting to see reference made to numerous consumer petitions.
Both products will be available in Asda from October 2015 with a retail price of £2.49. Other major retailers are due to follow later in Autumn 2015 and early 2016.
If you read the verbiage *very carefully* it doesn’t explicitly say that the product is vegan. They are simply appropriating the V-word on the packaging and in their marketing. If The Vegan Society is correct in asserting that mycoprotein was extensively animal-tested (for over a decade) before Quorn was allowed to be sold for human consumption then in the opinion of many people who care about the ethics of where their food came from, these new items are as vegan as Dead Beagle Pie.
America had vegan burgers *three years* ago. Replacing egg white as a binding agent was a “done thing” long ago. Perhaps you might like to ask Marlowe Foods to explain the delay in bringing this range out here ? And specifically how many and what types of animals might have been killed for them to bring this “Vegan” product to market in the UK ?
You are right, Thomas, why all the love for this product? If we don’t care about this product being animal tested then why worry about any of them? Either vegans are against animal testing or they are not. I am so I will never be buying this.
Thankyou, Jane. It would appear however that most non-necrovores are inexplicably cock-a-hoop about this news. Fry’s might be dearer per pack but their chicken-style strips are 380g compared to Quorn’s 280g.
http://www.frysvegetarian.co.uk/product/chicken-style-strips/
Even at the Ocado regular price (£3.15), the prices are comparable by weight with Quorn being the *more* expensive (82p/gram vs 88p/gram) but Fry’s is less processed, comes from a family-run, totally vegan company and will undoubtedly be nicer on the plate too. Better still, it’s on offer currently and is even cheaper still.
Quorn going “vegan” with their glucose-fuelled egestion from a mould in a giant vat (which they won’t allow anyone to ever photograph) is just about the most non-news ever. It changes nothing.
Also, existing Quorn pieces are around 14% protein, Fry’s are 19%. I think Morrisons pieces (which now contain egg) used to be 23% protein. The morrisons ones were also £1.50 a bag. A petition – of which the company was made aware – has been set up to have their recipe reverted:
https://www.change.org/p/morrison-s-remove-the-egg-from-your-chicken-style-pieces?just_created=true
I am not especially interested in eating Quorn, I’ve been vegan for more than 15 years and never missed it, but I am interested in your reply – in what sense is the ‘mycoprotein’ animal tested? i.e. do you mean it was fed to animals to check it wasn’t toxic or something more obscure? You mention killing animals. I am only interested in informing myself, as I say, because it is unusual for charges like this to be made about foods.
Well I thought we could get these products already!
This will make my transition from vegetarian to vegan a little easier when it comes to ‘fast food’
Good news but I wouldn’t use either of these. When will we get Quorn Mince and Quorn Chicken Dippers ?
[…] MAJOR vegan update for Quorn – available in UK from October 2015 – click here to read more […]
I’ve been vegan since 1999. Quorn has been around for longer than that and has remained steadfastly vegetarian during this time despite it being relatively straightforward to have made their products vegan friendly. It’s just a pity that had to wait until veganism became friendly for them to take this step. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable taking my money away from the other companies I support by buying their products to buy this instead because of that.
Absolutely, all the companies we’ve relied on all these years – I won’t be deserting them to make a b line for Quorn I’m afraid.
so the phrase “wot, you’re a vegan, so you eat all that quorn and shit” might finally be true?
☺
Can you provide a source (e.g. URL) – I can’t find it on the Quorn web site.
Actually don’t really like Quorn or other ‘fake meat’ products but will be useful at work as we have many Muslim children who can only have vegetarian or halal. As a vegetarian I refuse to cook halal and my Sikh colleague also has a big problem with this, so we rely on Quorn a lot except for when I have a child in that has an egg allergy. The Quorn pieces with no egg will be very useful but I don’t think I will be tempted to eat it myself.
Eat Well For Less on BBC 1 with the irritating, shouty twat bloke had a piece on mycoprotein this week (S2 E2) it’s about 41 mins in, where they filmed inside the factory that produces this stuff.
Shouty man exhibited his usual disdain for vegetarians (he probably can’t even spell vegan, let alone know what it means).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06b8hzd/eat-well-for-less-series-2-2-the-saini-family
Having recently become vegan (5 months) after 32 years being vegetarian, I can safely say that I never went near quorn when veggie and frankly I still wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole however ‘vegan’ it claims to be. This is simply because I initially went vegetarian as I never liked the taste of meat whatsoever so all these fake meats are totally pointless to me.
I’d like to know when the vegan quorn burgers are out? I have already been to the asda branch in the UK in Birmingham but have been told there not in store yet do you know when it will come by?
It’s actually Waitrose who’ve started stocking them first – but not widely. I’ve given up on the supermarkets and have ordered the Quorn through a local health food shop instead. Might be worth checking Waitrose if you’ve got one near you, though.
The pieces are available at Ocado, although it sometimes shows as limited stock.
Just seen Quorn ‘vegan’ pieces for the first time in our brand new Waitrose in High Wycombe. I could not believe the hiked up price (compared to the usual Quorn pieces) and the smaller pack quantity by weight. This makes the vegan product around 50% more expensive per kg. Why the huge premium? Removing the egg white must surely reduce the cost? Quorn is clearly trying to jump on the vegan bandwagon and milk it for all it’s worth.
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