Is it that brands think that ‘vegan’ has negative connotations of extremism and holier-than-thou ism? Veganism definitely denotes a more holistic or hard-line philosophy of avoiding all animal products, including clothing and non-cruelty-free cosmetics, for example. Plant-based is generally just applied to food. Only Unilever (Vegetarian Butcher) received our best rating in our Supply Chain Management category. Vegetable / bean burgers (broad bean, edamame bean, beetroot, mushroom, sweet potato), jars of tempeh. Investments companies have also been attracted by seeing meat-free sales rising. Four companies in this guide are now owned by private equity investment companies, who, like meat companies, may not be in it for ethical reasons: Brands that got a best rating for soya sourcing were awarded a whole Product Sustainability mark and those that got a middle, got half a Product Sustainability mark. Table 1: Best rating for soya sourcing policy. Brand does not use soya or states clearly it does not source from South America. Company

A July 2022 report from business strategy advisors, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), found that “for each dollar, investment in improving and scaling up the production of meat and dairy alternatives resulted in three times more greenhouse gas reductionscompared with investment in green cement technology, seven times more than green buildings and 11 times more than zero-emission cars.” Once just the stronghold of small, alternative vegan companies, the meat-free market is now dominated by mainstream companies, including those that make most of their money from meat, and private equity companies who might see meat-free companies as a profitable investment in the current climate. The environmental impact of meat analogues is not the only ethical issue. A review of literature on meat alternatives by the Nuffield Foundation considers the health implications of plant-based meats, pointing out that meat analogues may contain similar levels of calories and saturated fat to beef burgers, and may be high in sodium and sugar. Plus they may contain a whole list of other industrially produced ingredients. We asked our readers whether they would eat lab-grown meat. Here's a selection of the replies, some have been edited for length. Burgers, bacon rashers, fish steaks, gammon roast, turkey roast, beef roast, ham slices, sausages, pepperoni.States: "Our soy is not sourced from land that causes deforestation" but does not name source countries The companies developing lab-grown meat say it is useful for weaning committed meat eaters off animal sources if they’re not convinced by the taste and texture of meat-free products.

Gosh! – Efanor Investimentos is a Portuguese investment group which owns food retail, clothing, electronics and telecoms companies. It bought Gosh! in 2021. Dan: "I’m a flexitarian and would happily eat Lab grown meat in products like burgers, sausages, mince etc if: This guide covers ready-made meat alternatives and includes products designed to taste, smell and look like meat (appetisingly called ‘meat analogues’ in the trade). It also covers products like tofu, falafel and vegetable fingers which can be used as meat replacements, but in general are not marketed as being analogous to meat. The products in this guide vary considerably, from the very simple, such as plain tofu, to the meat analogues which tend to have long lists of ingredients and are more likely to be highly processed. In the context of an otherwise healthy diet, the occasional convenient, highly processed fake meat burger isn’t a problem. Added to this, because it is a capital-intensive industry requiring expensive technical equipment like bioreactors, lab-grown meat is likely to be dominated by big companies, like JBS. This means a further concentration of power in the hands of a few companies.

Our Recommended brands did well or reasonably for soya and palm oil sourcing, and are vegan companies: Dragonfly, Biona, Bonsan, Oumph!, No Meat, Fry’s, Beyond Meat and THIS. Goodlife – Egeria Capital Management is a Dutch private equity firm that invests in land and buildings (real estate), and companies. It has had a controlling interest in Goodlife since 2014. With so much choice available, how do you know which brand make what vegan and fake meat alternatives? In the table below brands are listed alphabetically and the products are vegan unless otherwise stated. Brand Still a popular ingredient largely because, unlike most other beans, soya protein is a complete protein containing all the eight essential amino acids that we need. Soya sausages were invented in Germany during the first world war to deal with meat shortages.