Vegan cheese

In the vegan mockumentary ‘Carnage’, a support group of people name cheeses they once ate in an effort to let go of shame they feel about having done so. “Brie!” one confesses. “Edam!” another collapses into tears.

People rarely switch to vegan cheese because it tastes better. It’s an ethical decision, asking dairy cheese to moove aside for the benefit of other species and the planet.

Fortunately, plant-based alternatives, from humble cheddar to crumbly feta, even creamy mozzarella, have stepped up to make this transition easier – they’re gonna Roquefort your world!

This guide covers the major vegan cheese brands available in the UK. Since the last guide we removed the brands Happy Cashew and Tofutti because it appears they are no longer easy to find in the UK.

We have not included supermarket own-brand vegan cheeses in this guide because they tend to score poorly in our ethical ratings. We also include where you can buy the different vegan cheese brands.

Is vegan cheese the most ethical cheese? 

The scores a brand gets in the table above includes all aspects of a company's ethical and environmental behaviour, in 300 categories from workers rights to tax avoidance, and not every vegan cheese is a good ethical choice.  There are good ethical reasons to cut down, or cut out eating dairy cheese:

1. To help out the planet

Due to a lack of good studies and variations in production methods, it is difficult to give exact figures, but saying plant-based cheese is ten times better for the climate than dairy cheese probably isn’t a wild exaggeration.

While the production of one kilogram of dairy cheese creates 18 kg CO2e, the ingredients commonly used in plant-based cheeses are way less carbon intensive to produce (coconut 2.1 kg CO2e, tree nuts like almond and cashew 2 kg CO2e, soya beans 2 kg CO2e, potato 0.4 kg CO2e).

Our article comparing the climate impacts of dairy and plant products has more detail.

2. To protect rainforests

Valuable habitats like forests, grasslands and savannahs are being converted into land for soya production. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says almost 80% of the world’s soybean crop is fed to livestock.

It says that 24g of soya is used to produce 100g of dairy cheese. So, perhaps surprisingly, if everyone stopped eating dairy cheese and switched to plant-based alternatives then overall soya production would likely plummet. Cathedral City (owned by Saputo) is one example of a dairy cheese company that’s been linked to deforestation in Brazil.

3. To stop funding animal suffering

All dairy products come from mothers that either just had a baby or are milked while pregnant. Animals can’t give consent to the cycle of forced impregnation, separation from their offspring, and endless milking that are integral to dairy production. Dairy animals are virtually always killed when their milk production slows down even though they are still young.

All vegan cheeses are vegan, but some are more vegan than others…

Every brand in this guide is vegan. But some are owned by fully vegan companies, while others are owned by companies involved in factory farming, animal slaughter, and animal testing. 

The most vegan of all the vegan cheeses

The following brands have a spotless record under our Animal Rights, Factory Farming and Animal Testing categories:

• Cheezly (Vbites)
• Green Vie
• Koko
• La Fauxmagerie
• Mouse’s Favourite
• Nush
• Tyne Chease

The least vegan of all the vegan cheeses

Half of the brands in this guide are owned by companies that scored our worst rating for Animal Rights. Applewood, Ilchester and Mexicana are owned by dairy company Norseland, which is owned by Norway’s largest producer of dairy products TINE SA. It appears to have no meaningful welfare policies at all.

Sheese and Vitalite are owned by dairy giant Saputo (see below for more information).

Violife’s immediate parent company Upfield is transitioning towards a plant-based product range, but still uses a lot of dairy for its brands like Elmlea cream. Violife lost half a mark under the Animal Testing category because its ultimate parent company (private equity company KKR) has investments in biopharmaceuticals companies, which are required to use animal testing to demonstrate the safety of products.
 
In February 2021 it was announced that plant-based brand Follow Your Heart had been bought by Danone, which tests on animals “to ensure the safety and efficacy of new products”. Danone also claims it is “committed to avoid and will be phasing out close confinement and permanent tethering systems for all farm animals, including cages, crates or tie stalls,” which appears to mean it is still involved in these cruel practices.

MozzaRisella is owned by dairy company Frescolat SRL. It says its cow and goat milk is fully traceable and that it “collaborates exclusively with local stables”, but didn’t provide any extra information about what actual animal welfare measures are expected.

Nurishh is owned by The Bel Group – you guessed it, owner of the Babybel brand. The Group states that, in 2019, it developed an Animal Welfare Charter with Compassion in World Farming, which it wants all of its farmers to be compliant with by 2025. At the time of writing, 90% of the milk used to make its products came from cows with access to pasture, though it’s unclear for how many days of the year.

What is vegan cheese made from?

Common ingredients in vegan cheese are almonds, cashew, coconut, macadamias and soya, but many mass-produced vegan cheeses contain added ingredients.

Research suggests that strikingly long ingredients lists, and high oil content, of some vegan cheeses could be putting people off buying it.

Ingredients in artisan and small companies’ vegan cheese

Many smaller brands use very few ingredients.

Mouse’s Favourite Camembert for example contains only organic cashews, water, salt, and cultures. La Fauxmagerie’s blue cheese contains coconut oil, almonds, tapioca flour, nutritional yeast, salt, and cultures.

Ingredients in mass-produced vegan cheese

The general rule seems to be the bigger the brand, the longer the ingredients list.

Violife’s mature cheddar contains 11 ingredients, most of which are recognisable, but it also contains ‘Mature Cheddar Flavour’ (not sure what that is!).

Sheese contained 14 ingredients such as coconut oil and oat fibre, as well as tricalcium citrate and colouring.

Koko’s vegan cheese contained 15 ingredients, including stabilisers, humectant, calcium phosphates, maltodextrin, preservatives, dextrose … and other things difficult to identify in a line-up.

None of the big brands published detailed information about the manufacturing process of their vegan cheeses.

Nut-free vegan cheese

Most vegan cheese contains nuts, with some made primarily from coconut (which can be classed as nut, fruit or drupe). In this guide Cheezly, Green Vie, Koko, and MozzaRisella are the highest-scoring brands that sell nut-free cheese.

What are vegan cheese cultures?

Just as some dairy cheese is fermented, so are some vegan cheeses. Cultures, which are different strains of bacteria combined together, are used to enable the fermentation process. This ripens the cheese, which can help preserve, texture, or impart flavour.

Some websites (such as satsumapips.co.uk) retail vegan culture starter kits. One example is a vegan strain of penicillium camemberti – the bacteria used to make the characteristic white mould you find on cheeses like camembert and brie.

For more information on meeting nutritional needs if you are switching to a wholly vegan diet, especially if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, see the NHS advice page.

Vegan cheese without palm oil

Most brands scored a best rating for Palm Oil in this guide, meaning the company that owns them either does not use palm oil or derivatives, or is clearly taking steps to ensure the palm oil it uses is traceable.

Brands that have a policy against using palm oil:

• Green Vie
• Mouse's Favourite

Brands that do not appear to use any palm oil:

• Applewood
• Ilchester
• La Fauxmagerie
• Mexicana
• MozzaRisella
• Nurishh
• Nush
• Tyne Chease
• Violife (owner Upfield uses certified palm elsewhere)

Brands that use ‘sustainable’ palm:

• VBites (Cheezly)
• Follow Your Heart

Palm-free brands owned by a company that uses unsustainable palm:

• Sheese, Cathedral City, Vitalite (Saputo)
• Pure (Kerry Group)

Brands that use palm oil without any sustainability initiatives:

• Koko

How much does vegan cheese cost?

Vegan cheese does tend to be a bit more expensive than dairy. However, dairy cheese produced by more ethical companies is the most expensive of all cheeses on the market.

Cost of dairy cheddar vs vegan block/cheddar

We searched the websites of major supermarkets, ethical online retailers, and independent cheese shops to get an indication of how much different brands of cheddar sell for. Calon Wen and Daylesford were the highest scoring brands in our guide to cow’s milk that sell cheddar.

Where can I buy vegan cheese?

All of the vegan cheese brands in this guide are available online and with some local stockists.

The following brands are commonly available at supermarkets, or places like Holland & Barrett and local retailers: Applewood, Cheezly, Follow Your Heart, Mexicana, Nurishh, Sheese, Violife, Vitalite.

Buying vegan cheese in supermarkets

We have not included supermarket own-brand vegan cheese in this new guide. When we published the guide to supermarkets in December 2021, the following scores were given to supermarkets that sell own-brand vegan cheese: Waitrose (4.5), M&S (3), Asda (2.5), Sainsbury’s (0), Morrisons (3), Tesco (0).

Who makes supermarket own-brand cheese?

Supermarkets aren’t that transparent about who makes their own-brand vegan cheeses but, according to the Sheese website, it is manufacturing supermarket own-brand products for Morrisons, Tesco and Asda.

Vegan cheese brands by type and cost

In the table below we list the vegan cheese brands in the guide and what types of vegan cheese they make e.g. blue, spread, and also the price of the least expensive and most expensive cheeses they make.

If you're looking for a specific type of cheese not on this list, you could search for it on vegancheese.co, and international directory.

Is vegan cheese better for the environment?

No companies received a best rating for their approach to Climate Change. Even though the production of plant-based cheese produces fewer emissions than dairy, we expect all companies to be taking reasonable steps to minimise their climate impact.

Vegan cheese packaging and Terracycle

The plastic film covering cheese is infamously tricky to recycle. Saputo teamed up with recycling company TerraCycle to make it possible for cheese packaging (from any brand) to be recycled through a free programme.

However, this isn’t always easy to do – you have to search the TerraCycle website for your nearest cheese recycling Drop-Off Point, and then might have to drive a significant distance if there’s not one nearby.

Buying from local companies that wrap cheeses in more sustainable materials, such as greaseproof paper, is the best option when it comes to cheese packaging.

Can vegan cheese be called cheese?

Legally, we’re not supposed to call vegan cheese, ‘cheese’ – UK regulations say the term can only be used to describe products derived from animals.

Sainsbury’s decision to break the mould in 2016 by becoming the first major supermarket to offer own-brand vegan cheese prompted a Facebook rant which is now a potent piece of vegan cheese’s cultural history.

In a post that’s too long for this page, a fuming defender of dairy cheese argued: “If you’re going to be a vegan don’t call your vegan cheese BECAUSE IT’S NOT CHEESE!!!!! …CHEESE IS NOT MADE WITH COCONUTS. Call it Gary or something don’t call it Cheese because IT’S NOT CHEESE!!!!!!”

Needless to say, many vegans found great satisfaction in adopting the name Gary.