Beans and pulses

Ethical beans and pulses 

This guide reviews brands selling ready-cooked beans and pulses in tins or glass jars and dried versions. This includes things like chickpeas, haricot beans, black beans, butter beans, kidney beans and lentils. 

Unlike many of our shopping guides, the majority of the brands in this guide score reasonably well in our ethical rating. There are seven best buy brands and two recommended brands. 

Companies range from small UK pulse suppliers to multinational food companies like Napolina.

We look at things like packaging and how to avoid potentially harmful BPA linings in tin cans, the price difference between dried pluses and the cooked versions in tin cans and glass jars, as well as the carbon footprint of beans and lentils. Hint: it's considerably smaller than the carbon footprint of other protein foods like meat!

Given the low price, low carbon footprint and low level of processing of beans and pulses, it may be time to start adding more of these to your diet. 

This guide doesn't cover soya beans as they're less common as a dried or tinned product, and we have a separate guide to baked beans.

We have not included supermarket own brands in the table, but you may like to check out the highest scoring supermarkets in our guide to supermarkets.

NB: We use the term ‘pulses’ throughout this guide, a term which covers dried beans and peas, chickpeas and lentils. The word ‘pulse’ stems from the Latin word puls, meaning seeds that can be made into a thick soup. 

Beneficial beans, peas and lentils 

Beans and peas used to be staple foods in the British diet until the 18th century when they were regarded as “poor man’s meat” or animal feed. Now, while hummus and baked beans are common in many homes, it’s mainly South Asian communities and foodies who cook with pulses, especially dried pulses. For the rest of us they’re often regarded as too much hassle. 

But there are so many reasons to love pulses.

An August 2024 report from the Food Foundation stated: “There is a real opportunity in the UK to champion and better promote beans as an affordable, healthy and sustainable alternative to meat."

It added: “Less processed alternatives to meat (beans and grains) perform strongly on a number of different nutrition indicators, containing notably lower amounts of saturated fat, calories and salt and the highest amount of fibre per 100g of all categories compared to both meat and other plant-based meat alternatives. They are also the most affordable category per 100g.”

Dried pulses are also very minimally processed – usually just washed before being bagged. The only processing tinned pulses undergo is cooking in the can.

Carbon footprint of pulses

The Climate Change Committee (2023) recommended that we should eat more plant-based food to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. In the UK, meat accounts for the largest proportion of greenhouse gas emissions associated with diets (32%), with dairy products contributing 14%.

The table below shows the comparative emissions of beans to other meat-free products and meat and dairy.

Source: Poore & Nemecek (2018) Science journal 

Our article on the climate differences between meat and vegetarian diets has more information.

Are low-emission pulses accessible for everyone?

A 2023 report from the Food Foundation examined whether reducing the carbon footprint of UK diets is equally achievable for different income groups.

It found that the barriers to buying and cooking with pulses for low-income groups were:

• time, knowledge, and the perceived difficulty of cooking with pulses, rather than price as an issue
• perception that alternatives to animal-based foods such as vegetables and pulses are less appealing and desirable, with food advertising and promotions skewed in favour of higher emission foods
• appliance poverty: 1.9 million low-income households are without a cooker and eating more vegetables and pulses can often involve more cooking
• limited availability of shops selling low-emission foods in deprived communities
• perception that more time is needed to cook with vegetables and pulses and, in low-wage households, protected time is in short supply. 

Are UK or European beans and pulses better for the planet?

Pulses are not often labelled with their country of origin, whether in tins or dried in packets.

If they are organic, there may be more of a clue – it has to say “EU Agriculture” or “Non-EU Agriculture”.

The countries where pulses are grown for export include India, China, Argentina, Canada, and the USA.

In terms of food miles, the distance food is transported plays a relatively small part in its climate impact. Most estimates place emissions associated with food miles at around 6-10% of total food system emissions, which is much less than the emissions associated with land use change and on-farm practices.

But many pulses can grow in the UK and, if there are any carbon savings to be made, then we need to make them. Plus, it would address concerns about food security.

Most of the beans we currently grow in the UK, which is mainly fava beans, are exported for animal feed, whilst we import three times as many lentils and chickpeas, both of which can be grown in the UK.

Hodmedod’s was set up specifically to supply British beans, pulses, and grains. They supply a range of beans, lentils and chickpeas as well as old British favourites like peas and fava beans.
 

Which are more energy efficient to buy: cooked or dried beans?

Is it more energy efficient to buy ready-cooked pulses, like a tin of chickpeas, or dried ones that you cook at home?

Dried beans use less energy to process and transport, but do the energy savings of industrial cooking in the canning factory tip the scales in the other direction?

Quite possibly, but there are a number of ways that you can make cooking pulses at home more sustainable:

• use an induction hob
• Make sure your electricity is powered by renewable energy
• Buy a pressure cooker as this reduces the cooking time
• Cook with the lid on to reduce cooking time
• Soak your beans overnight which will often cut cooking time in half
• Add bicarbonate of soda to speed up the cooking
• Quick soak pulses before cooking by covering them in water, bring to the boil for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to stand covered for 1 hour. Then cook as directed, but in a shorter time.

Or don't cook pulses at all. Green or brown lentils, peas, mung beans and chickpeas are all easy beans to sprout, and can then be added to meals without cooking. To make sprouted beans and peas, soak 1 part dry beans with 3 parts water overnight, then drain, place in a breathable container and rinse twice daily for a few days. A small sprout shoot will appear and you can eat them at this stage.

Which companies selling pulses are vegan or vegetarian?

Of the 18 brands in this shopping guide, five are fully vegan companies, and four are vegetarian companies.

Vegan companies:

• Bold Bean Co
• Clearspring
• Hodmedod’s
• Mr Organic
• Organic Kitchen

Vegetarian companies:

• Biona
• Essential
• Infinity Foods
• Suma

Can I buy organic pulses?

Several brands in this guide are fully organic and sell organic beans and pulses. 

Only organic beans and pulses in range:

• Biona
• Clearspring
• Mr Organic
• Organic Kitchen

Some brands sell both organic and non-organic beans and pulses. These are:

• Bold Bean Co
• Essential (all tins are organic, 80% of dried pulses are organic)
• Hodmedod's (both tinned varieties and some dried are organic)
• Infinity Foods
• Suma

Comparing the price of pulses depending on packaging

We have compared the price of red kidney beans (or other beans, as stated) depending on how they are packaged and prepared (dried or cooked). 

Note that some of these are organic beans, which are a little more expensive anyway.

Dried red kidney beans

Dried beans are often sold in 500g bag or larger. They can also be bought loose in zero waste refill shops. The prices in the table are based on 500g bags.

Tins of kidney beans

Most tins of canned cooked beans are 400g weight. 

Glass jars of kidney beans

Some brands sell cooked beans in glass jars, getting around the packaging issues with tin can linings (see below), or plastic bags. 

As can be seen in the tables above, cooked beans in glass jars are more expensive than tins, but they avoid the issue of BPA tin lining.

Dried pulses are cheaper than jars or tins. You get twice as many beans for your money (100g of dried beans results in roughly 200g of cooked beans). But bear in mind that, with dried pulses, you’ll have the cost of cooking them.

Hodmedod’s found that making hummus by soaking whole yellow peas overnight and cooking in a pressure cooker on an induction hob then leaving to cool (while still cooking) for 20 minutes before opening the pressure cooker, cost half the price of using a can of chickpeas.
 

Which packaging is best for pulses?

With the choice between can, jar or dried beans and lentils, which is best to buy?

Whilst cooked pulses in tins or cans come top for convenience compared to dried pulses, they don’t compare so well on transportation, being heavier and thus using more energy when they are carted around.

Plus, for tins, there is the issue of the plastic lining which makes glass jars a more attractive option for cooked pulses.

On the other hand, tin cans and glass jars are widely recycled in the UK whereas the “recyclable” soft plastic that virtually all dried pulses come in is becoming easier to recycle but it is often incinerated.

One way round this may be to go to a bulk refill shop with your own bags or containers and stock up on dried pulses there.

The only dried pulses we found packaged in paper were Hodmedod’s bulk packs (1kg and above). Their smaller packs are packaged in compostable cellophane.

BPA in can linings

Bisphenol A (BPA) is used in lots of food and drink packaging, including in the plastic linings of tins to prevent metal corrosion contaminating the food. However, BPA can actually leach into the tinned food.

BPA disrupts the regular action of hormones and has been linked to a wide range of health hazards including breast and prostate cancer, asthma, obesity, behavioural changes including attention deficit disorder, altered development of the brain and immune system, low birth weight, and lowered sperm counts.

Whilst BPA has been banned in food and drink packaging intended for babies since 2011, it is still widely used elsewhere.

Studies have shown that you can reduce BPA levels in your body by as much as two-thirds in just a few days by avoiding tinned food.

BPA ban in EU soon

In April 2023, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) re-evaluated BPA’s safety and reduced the tolerable daily intake (TDI) to 0.2 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day. That’s 20,000 times lower than what it was before. The UK initially stuck with the old levels but in May 2024 it adopted the new TDI.

In June 2024, the European Commission proposed a ban on BPA and other bisphenols in materials that come into contact with food. The ban is likely to be enacted by the end of 2024, but canned food manufacturers will have 18 months to transition away from BPA, meaning mid 2026 in effect.

The European Parliament and Council now also need to greenlight the proposal so let’s hope it doesn’t get scuppered by industry lobbying.

France already banned the use of BPA in all food packaging in 2015, a decision which displeased the Plastics Europe lobby, which also unsuccessfully took the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to court three times for listing BPA as a “substance of very high concern”.

BPA-free products

As a lining is not added to the food directly, brands do not legally need to state what chemicals are used in their product packaging.

One way to tell whether a can is BPA-free is to check the product packaging for a “BPA-free” label. But not all brands will list this.

However, even though some brands have switched to a BPA-free alternative for some products, the reality is that some alternatives may be just as bad or even more harmful than the original.

In 2016, the University of California found that BPS (Bisphenol S), a substitute for BPA, disrupts the reproductive system. Another 2017 study found that six Bisphenol compounds used as BPA substitutes were more potent in their endocrine-disrupting properties than BPA.

Soil Association organic standards require that BPA and other bisphenols and PVC must not be used in packaging for organic foods so you could look out for Soil Association organic-certified products.

What are the BPA and bisphenol alternatives?

Problem alternative linings include PVC, a known human carcinogen, and polystyrene-acrylic resins, a possible carcinogen.

Other alternatives are oleoresin (made from plant oils), polyester and acrylic resins.

But, according to the US Center for Environmental Health, “Even some of the newest liners, like olefin polymers, which are partially derived from plants, have not been completely studied for safety, because their formulation is not publicly available.”

The 'Buyer Beware Toxic BPA and regrettable substitutes found in the linings of canned food' report stated “We know very little about the additives used in these compounds to give them the properties that make them stable and effective can linings.”

The report concludes that purchasing canned food is a “buyer beware” situation for consumers. It suggests avoiding BPA-lined tins as a priority and minimising tinned food in general.

How to avoid tin linings completely  

You may want to avoid tins and buy dried pulses or pulses in glass jars instead. See the table below to find who sells dried versions or cooked beans in glass jars.

You can also buy dried beans and pulses loose from zero waste refill stores - take your own bags or containers to fill up.

How to avoid BPA lined tins

If you want to buy tins, see the list below for what the companies are doing about BPA. 

Given that it’s quite a big issue, surprisingly brand leader Napolina is still using BPA whilst KTC said nothing about BPA.

Brands with no information about BPA in its cans:

• East End
• KTC
• Natco
• Organic Kitchen

Uses BPA:

• Napolina

Use oleoresin, acrylic and polyester resins:

• Biona 
• Clearspring
• Essential
• Hodmedod’s
• Mr Organic
• Suma
   

Which brands use what packaging for their beans and lentils?

If you have a preference over how you buy your pulses, check out which brands sell their products in the different types of packaging.

Remember, some brands may also be available loose in local zero waste refill shops, or via some of the ethical food shops who may use different packaging. 

*Note: Hodmedod's 500g packs are compostable cellophane; packs over 1kg are paper.

Nutritional and price comparison of chicken and chickpeas

We have compared the nutritional information and price of a typical 200g serving of cooked chicken (one chicken breast) and cooked chickpeas (half a can) – two popular meat and non-meat proteins.

Information from: Asda chicken; Suma tinned chickpeas

A serving of chickpeas has a better nutritional profile and price than a serving of chicken in all areas apart from protein. You’d need to eat nearly 2.5 cans of chickpeas to get the same amount of protein. But the average woman only needs 45g of protein a day (55g for men). So, you will have already exceeded your daily protein with one chicken breast.

In the west, we generally eat more protein than we should and less fibre, an area where beans win hands down. NB: a chicken breast is very high in protein compared to beef (one serving of beef = 150g which is 34g of protein, half that of a serving of chicken).