Vegan and Meat Alternative Foods

Meat free products

This guide includes a full range of meat alternatives, from traditionally processed tofu and tempeh to bean burgers and falafel, as well as the more recently developed products which are sold as indistinguishable from meat. 

The brands in the table make vegetarian and vegan meat (and fish) free alternatives. We've included brands that are fully vegan or vegetarian, brands which are vegetarian/vegan but owned by meat companies, and a growing list of vegetarian and vegan meat free brands which are owned by private equity companies. 

This guide will help you sort through the meat free food options, showing who owns what, and how ethically they source their main ingredients. 

It may be a surprise to discover that not all vegetarian and vegan meat free brands are very ethical: some of the brands we've rated for their ethical policies on climate, workers, tax, animals, palm oil and soya sourcing score very poorly, with two scoring only 10 or below (out of a maximum of 100 points). 

But, there are some standout ethical brands in the guide, so there is plenty of choice for making a ethical dinner.

Meat free products aren’t confined to burgers and sausages but include mince, bacon, chicken breast, fish fillets and other alternatives (see the table further down of who makes what).

We have not included supermarkets on the table for space reasons, but our latest guide to supermarkets can be found online.

If you prefer to get your protein from beans and pulses, we have a new guide to these products.

Is plant based the same as vegan?

You may see ‘plant based’ on meat free food labels, but what does it mean and why do brands use it instead of ‘vegan’?

Most people assume that the term ‘plant based’ means that the product is vegan, and often it is, but according to regulations, up to 5% of plant based ingredients are allowed to be egg or milk. A 'plant based' product is based on plants, in that the majority of the ingredients are from plants. So if you are vegan, check the full ingredients list for products that are labelled ‘plant based’ in case there are some non-vegan elements.

Some brands may think that the word vegan has negative connotations which could put some of their target audience off from buying their products. Plant based generally is only applied to food, so someone may say they are plant based, meaning they eat a mainly vegan diet (but may also include dairy, meat and fish), and may not exclude animal products in cosmetics, clothing etc.

What are meat free alternatives and vegan burgers made of?

A lot of meat free products are made of soya, but there are a growing number made from jackfruit, pea protein and wheat. We look at some of the common main ingredients for meat free burgers and sausages. 

Soya beans

Soya has long been a staple of Asian and vegetarian/ vegan diets and it is the main ingredient in many of the products rated here. But soya bean cultivation remains linked to deforestation in South America. We look at how sustainable soya-based alternatives are in more detail below.

Soya sausages were invented in Germany during the first world war to deal with meat shortages.

Tempeh

Tempeh is a traditional Indonesian food, made of fermented soya beans – although other beans can be used – and a fungus called Rhizopus. Unlike tofu, the beans remain whole giving it a chunky, chewy texture. It is less processed than tofu and has more fibre but, like tofu, it is high in protein, equivalent to meat, milk and eggs.

Tofu

Tofu, or bean curd, is made from coagulated soya milk. It can come in firm, soft or silken format, in blocks or cubes, can be plain or flavoured including smoked, or be within products like burgers. 

Seitan

Seitan, which means “is gluten” in Japanese, is made from gluten by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch granules have been removed, leaving just the protein. 

Lupin beans

Lupin or lupine beans are sometimes called the ‘soya bean of the north’. Unlike soya they grow in cool climates.

Jackfruit

Jackfruit is the current big thing in meat substitutes. They are enormous fruit that grow on trees in India and surrounding regions. When they are unripe they have a chewy texture that is somewhat like pulled pork, and they absorb flavour very well.

Mycoprotein

Mycoprotein means ‘protein from fungi’. It is the basis of Quorn, which is a type of soil mould that is grown in fermentation vats. It was invented deliberately in a drive to find new proteins to feed the world’s growing population in the mid 1980s. Although the patent on it has now expired, Quorn Foods is still the only company that makes it.

Pea protein

Many of the meat alternatives are made from pea protein which is extracted from yellow and green split peas. It can be processed to create products with a chewy, meaty texture. It can be very realistic, ideal if a household has people with different diets. 

Beans, vegetables and nuts

Some meat free products are less processed and are based on beans, vegetables and nuts. As well as chilled and frozen versions, they are often found in dried packs which you add water to and shape yourself. 

Who owns meat free brands? 

The meat free food industry is quite a crowded space with a variety of different companies involved. Some brands are completely vegan companies. Some popular brands are owned by big meat producing companies who are tapping into the vegan market, and some brands are owned by private capital ventures.

Find out who owns your favourite veggie or vegan burger or sausage in our list below. 

Vegan and campaigning companies

Three brands are independent vegan companies:

• Clearspring is a family-run business whose mission is to provide organic foods made to traditional recipes
• Taifun is owned by a foundation for developing sustainable food systems in Germany
• Veggies is a worker cooperative in Nottingham that has been campaigning for animal rights since 1984

Several brands (Clive’s Pies, VFC, and Meatless Farm) are owned by Veg Capital, whose director is also the co-founder of Veganuary, which promotes and educates about veganism, and which led to over 2100 new vegan products and menu items being launched globally in January 2024. Veg Capital is a private fund that operates as a non-profit and plans to donate all profits to animal charities.

To score full marks in the Animal Products category, company groups had to own only vegan brands. As well as those named as vegan above, other vegan brands include

• Beyond Meat 
• THIS
• Vbites

Meat-owned companies

Several brands are owned by companies which primarily sell meat. Two to be most wary of if you are looking for vegan or vegetarian products are Heck and Richmond, as they have meat products with the same brand name.

• Richmond, along with Vivera, are owned by JBS, the biggest meat processor in the world, and the subject of several reports by Greenpeace detailing JBS's purchase of Brazilian beef from illegally deforested areas. 
• Birds Eye owns the Green Cuisine brand (which is vegan)
• The Vegetarian Butcher is ultimately owned by Unilever, which has many other brands including some which use pork and chicken.
• Goodlife's parent company group IK Investment Partners includes eight brands which use meat.

Private equity and tax avoidance

There are a number of brands owned by private equity companies.

• Tofoo Co and its Clearspot brand – previously top scorers and Best Buys – have fallen from the top of the table as the ultimate parent of their new owner Comitis Capital is based in a tax haven.
• Brands Fry’s, No Meat, and Oumph! are owned by LiveKindly which is owned by Blue Horizon.
• Squeaky Bean is owned by PAI Partners (which also owns brands Clipper, Kallo, Sunny D, Tropicana and many more).
• Gosh! is owned by another company, which is owned by Sonae, in turn owned by Efanor Investimentos.
• Goodlife is owned by IK Investment Partners

All of these owners have subsidiaries in tax havens of a type which could be used for tax avoidance. 

Supermarket own-brands

We have not included supermarket own brands in the table; see our guide to supermarkets for how they rate.

Buy or boycott? Big business ownership of vegan brands

If private equity companies, meat companies, or supermarkets sell more vegan alternatives, it enables more people to access them. 

We don’t want to advise people to boycott any companies that are making it possible to make the switch from meat if they can’t access other more ethical alternatives. But, if possible, we advise buying from brands that have ethics running throughout their business.

Which brands make what meat alternatives?

With so much choice available, how do you know which brand make what vegan and meat alternatives? In the table below brands are listed alphabetically and the products are vegan unless otherwise stated.

Products may be dried, chilled, frozen, in jars or other packaging.

Which meat free brands are vegan?

In this guide some brands make only vegan products, and some are vegetarian with some vegan products in their range. This list below doesn't take ownership into account - see above for which brands are owned by meat companies.

Brands with all-vegan products 

• Beyond Meat 
• Biona 
• Birds Eye Green Cuisine 
• Bonsan
• Clearspot 
• Clearspring
• Clive's Pies
• Dragonfly 
• Fry's
• Gosh!
• Meatless Farm 
• No Meat
• Oumph! 
• Squeaky Bean 
• Taifun 
• THIS 
• Tofoo 
• VBites 
• Veggies 
• VFC
• Vivera 

The vegetarian brands are:

• Cauldron (its sausages are the only vegetarian produce, otherwise vegan)
• Goodlife
• Linda McCartney
• Quorn
• Vegetarian Butcher

Heck's chipolatas in this guide are their only vegan product, the rest of the range is meat. Richmond uses the same name brand for its vegan products and its meat products.

Are there any organic meat free alternatives?

Some of the brands in our guide are fully organic, or have some organic products. These are:

• Biona and Bonsan (both Windmill Organics)
• Clearspot 
• Clearspring
• Clive's Pies
• Dragonfly 
• Taifun 
• Tofoo tofu and tempeh (some)
• Veggies

Environmental impact of meat 

Less meat = lower emissions, water, and land use. 

Reducing meat and dairy consumption is one of the most significant ways to cut greenhouse gases. Replacing traditional burgers and sausages with meat free alternatives from this guide can be one step towards reducing our climate footprint.

As our Climate Gap report states, “Dietary changes have a huge potential for reducing greenhouse gases, not only those released during production, but also those that could be captured by land not used for production.”

Producing a kilo of beef creates, on average, about 12 times more CO2e than a kilo of tofu.

Livestock also uses huge amounts of land both for grazing and for growing feed. One estimate is that if we all went vegan, we could reduce the land used by agriculture by 75%.

Find out more in our article “Climate impact of meat, vegetarian and vegan diets”.

Comparing meat and vegetarian / vegan products on water use 

Water use is also much lower for pulses (on which many meat free alternatives are based) and other plant foods. It the list below we compare the average water use of dairy and meat, with pulses, tofu, Quorn, and Beyond Meat. 

Average water use:

• Dairy 2714 (litres per kg of product)
• Pork 1796
• Beef 1451
• Pulses 436
• Tofu 149
• Quorn 61
• Beyond Meat 21

(Figures taken from Rethinking Plant-Based Meat Alternatives by The Food Foundation, 2024. Water footprint figures of other meat free brands in this guide were not available.)

Animal welfare and animal rights reasons to switch to meat free

Less meat = fewer animals slaughtered.

Aside from the climate and land impact of eating meat, there are the animals themselves to consider. From an animal rights standpoint, many people believe that animals are not ours to exploit and kill. From an animal welfare standpoint, now 80% of farm animals in the UK are raised on factory farms, up from 70% when we last wrote this guide.

According to World Animal Protection, the UK counties with the highest concentrations of factory farms are North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Shropshire, and Suffolk. World Animal Protection is campaigning for a total ban on new factory farms being built by 2030. It is aiming for 100,000 people to sign its petition, which at the time of writing has just over 78,000 signatures.

Find out about the problems with factory farming in our separate article.

Take action on factory farms by signing the World Animal Petition.

Soya, deforestation and soya sourcing

Around 80% of global soya is fed to livestock for meat and dairy production and much of the rest is used for biofuels and vegetable oils. 

In 2021, less than 4% of soya was used directly for human food products such as the ones rated here. 

So, tofu, tempeh, and meat free products have a tiny deforestation potential compared to meat.

However, we have still rated companies on their soya sourcing to find out where it comes from, as the soya supply chain can be linked to deforestation and the degradation of other ecosystems like grasslands and savannahs, mainly in South America which is at the greatest risk from soya production. We also uncovered which brands have parent companies using soya for animal feed, even if the meat free brand is soya-free.

Soya sourcing policies of vegetarian and vegan alternatives

Soya free

• Beyond Meat

Organic soya – unlikely to come from South America

• Biona & Bonsan (Windmill Organics)
• Cauldron
• Clearspring
• Clive’s Pies
• Dragonfly
• Taifun (soya from Europe)
• Tofoo & Clearspot (some from Europe)
• Veggies (soya from France)

Brand says it’s not from South America

• Meatless Farm (soya from North America and China)
• Oumph! (most from Europe)
• THIS (soya from USA)
• Vivera (soya from France, North America, and China, but is owned by JBS which has received criticisms for sourcing soya from deforested land)

Does not say where soya is from, or says it sources from South America

• Fry’s (although it does state it is not from deforested land)
• Linda McCartney
• No Meat
• Quorn (although it does state it is not from deforested land)
• Richmond
• Vbites
• Vegetarian Butcher (some from South America)
• VFC

Brand is soya free, but company group uses animal feed and no statement about soya

• Birds Eye
• Goodlife
• Gosh!
• Heck!
• Squeaky Bean

Is my veggie or vegan burger causing deforestation?

Most probably not. The biggest drivers of deforestation particularly in the Amazon are for cattle ranching, and soya to feed to animals. As noted above, very little of the global soya production is for direct human consumption. Products like tofu and tempeh have a tiny impact compared to meat in terms of global soya production. 

However, you may still choose to avoid South American soya, and the brands which aren't clear on their source of soya. 

Our feature Is Soya Sustainable? has more information on soya and deforestation. 

Palm oil use by meat free brands

We looked at whether companies used palm oil, and if so, was it certified (RSPO or organic).

Many companies were palm oil free and scored full marks in our rating for this category:

• Beyond Meat 
• Clearspot 
• Clearspring
• Dragonfly 
• Goodlife
• Heck!
• Oumph! 
• No Meat
• Taifun 
• Tofoo 
• VBites 
• Veggies 

For some, the brand was palm oil free but the company group uses palm: 

• Gosh!
• Richmond
• VFC
• Vivera 

Certified palm only

• Hain Daniels (Linda McCartney) used only certified palm oil
• Unilever (Vegetarian Butcher) (but has been criticised in the last five years by Global Witness and Chain Reaction Research for links to deforestation for palm in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia)

Some also used only (or mostly) segregated palm oil, which gained them extra points:

• Birds Eye Green Cuisine
• Clive's Pies (all organic)
• Compleat Food Group (Squeaky Bean)
• Fry's
• Marlow Foods (Cauldron & Quorn)

No policy and used palm oil

There were only two brands which used palm oil for which we could not find a policy. 

Meatless Farm only appeared to use palm oil in its sausage roll, but it also had a professional food service which included a wider range of pastries containing palm oil. 

The brand “THIS” only appeared to use palm in two of its products, and only one specified that it was RSPO-certified.

Are people eating less meat?

Our annual Climate Gap report uses DEFRA Family Food datasets to track levels of meat consumption. These suggest there was a 10% drop in household meat consumption between 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.

However, this data is based on participants collecting information in food diaries, and changes to data collection due to the pandemic may mean the figures are inaccurate.

A reader contacted us to clarify, “Other data sources on meat consumption per person in the UK such as DEFRA's Agriculture in the UK reports which monitor net supply and OECD reports on consumption do not indicate a reduction in meat consumption in 2022. In fact, in the DEFRA data, 2022 is the peak year for meat consumption per capita since records started in 1985. In the OECD data, 2022 consumption is above the two previous years and only marginally below the previous peak in 2005.”

Apparently, meat consumption has dipped in the Netherlands and Germany. “After years of consumer awareness campaigns about the health, environmental, and animal welfare benefits of a shift to plant-rich diets, Dutch and German consumers – especially the younger generations such as Gen Z – have realised that it’s good for their own health and that of the planet to eat more plants and less meat and dairy”, said researcher Nico Muzi. These results were probably enabled by supermarkets like Lidl lowering prices of plant based foods to match or be cheaper than meat.

Price comparisons of vegan and meat free products

For people wanting to replace meat products with processed plant based equivalents, the cheapest alternatives by weight, and closest in price to their meat equivalents, tend to be mince and meatballs, then burgers and sausages. The most expensive are bacon, chicken fillets, and chicken nuggets.

The average prices of meats and meat free alternatives overall per 100g vary considerably but they are roughly as follows:

• Grains and beans 39p
• Meat (red and poultry) 81p
• Traditional processed (e.g. tofu, tempeh) 112p
• Processed (new generation, i.e. meat-like) 140p

Figures from Rethinking Plant-Based Meat Alternatives, by The Food Foundation, 2024.

Processed plant based meat alternatives are most expensive, however, campaign groups say that animal meat is VAT free, and the government should remove VAT from plant based meat alternatives too.
 

Meat free foods and ultra-processed claims

Plant based foods have taken a bit of criticism in recent years, often being associated with actual evidence of the ill-health effects of high levels of wider ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption. It’s worth considering where the criticism is coming from, which plant based foods really are ultra-processed, and how they fit into the context of people’s overall diets.

According to a 2023 report by the corporate watchdog Changing Markets Foundation, the social media narrative about plant based meat and dairy alternatives being “ultra-processed” “Frankenfoods”, is driven mostly by a small group of 50 accounts associated with “self-described wellness experts or notable far-right and right-wing media and political figures”. The report suggested that “certain people are trying to undermine scientific consensus on the reduction of meat and dairy consumption necessary to stop climate change and improve public health.”

Misleading criticism of alternative proteins

“Criticism of UPF focuses on alternative proteins – when in reality the UPF market is much bigger than just meat substitutes”, says Changing Markets.

An October 2024 article on the BBC website titled “Should we be worried about vegan ultra-processed foods?” used an image of a vegan burger, and referenced some recent research which linked consumption of “ultra-processed foods derived from plants” to a higher risk of diet-related death. However, it went on to clarify that the UPF foods referred to “included a number of foods considered ‘vegan by default’, such as bread, crisps and condiments”, and that “meat alternatives were the smallest contributor to calories among the participants overall, at 0.2%”.

Given that UPFs make up 57% of mean calorific intake in the UK, the 0.2% that are meat alternatives is a tiny proportion.

The article also noted that there is disagreement about the accuracy of the Nova classification system, which groups foods by how processed they are. Different foods within the Nova UPF group can have quite different nutritional profiles. If you compare a processed meat sausage with a Beyond Meat burger, only the latter boasts no cholesterol, low sugar, source of fibre, and low saturated fat. Both are high in protein (good) and high in sodium (not so good).

Less processed options also available 

It seems an occasional vegan burger is not a big problem. 

Traditional and less processed alternatives such as tofu and tempeh are not considered UPFs, and some people may prefer these. Some meat free alternatives such as falafels or bean burgers are also less processed. 

For the healthiest, and best-value meat-free bean and pulse alternatives, see our new guide to these products. 

Is lab grown meat an option?

Cultivated meat in pet food in the UK was approved in July 2024. 

Techniques previously used to create cell-cultivated medicines are now being used to create cultivated meat for human consumption. The Food Standards Agency is developing an approval process that would take two years for companies to complete.

Companies say cultivated meat is safer in several respects than traditional meat as it avoids certain bacteria like E coli and salmonella and sidesteps the issue of overuse of antibiotics in farms.

The animal cells, usually harvested from live animals via biopsy, are then grown and developed using various growth factors which the FSA plans to ensure are safe.

The abbreviations in the score table mean:  [O] = organic, [Vg] = vegan, [V] = vegetarian.