Tesco is upping its vegan food range. The supermarket chain is launching the Beyond Sausage, which is produced by plant-based meat brand Beyond Meat.
The meaty Beyond Sausage is made from pea protein, fava beans, and rice. Beyond Meat says it was the first plant-based sausage that “looks, sizzles and satisfies like pork.”
It’s made without the use of soy, gluten, or GMO ingredients. It contains no cholesterol or trans fat and each sausage boasts 16 grams of protein, while one of Tesco’s pork sausage links offers around 9 grams.
The Beyond Sausage is currently made in the U.S. However, Beyond Meat is set to open a production facility in the Netherlands early next year. Beyond Meat’s CEO and co-founder Ethan Brown told The Grocer that Beyond Meat products sold in the UK could be produced at the new factory instead, which would reduce the price of the item.
“It’s a very big goal of mine to make these products more affordable,” Brown said to The Grocer. “The challenge is that our scale is so small, but as we achieve greater scale in our supply chain, I have every confidence we can lower that price compared to other plant-based products and animal proteins.”
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Plant-based meats have room for improvement, according to Brown. “Everything we do is a work in progress. We always strive to improve our products and spend 10% of our revenues on R&D,” he said. “But that said, we have great pride in what we have on the market, and we believe this is the best product of its type on the market.”
The Beyond Sausage is already a hit among consumers. The plant-based link is available at American fast-food chains Veggie Grill and Hardee’s as well as Yankee Stadium’s Bareburger.
Vegan Food at Tesco
The meat-free sausage will join the Beyond Burger at the UK’s largest supermarket chain.
Tesco is also home to Wicked Kitchen, an all-vegan ready meal range that offers curries, pizzas, burritos, and mac ‘n’ cheese.
The supermarket chain recently announced it was increasing its vegan product count by 900 percent by introducing a new ready meal range called Plant Chef. The range will increase Tesco’s number of plant-based products from 32 to 300.
The Beyond Sausage will be available at 458 Tesco stores from 26 September.
Beyond Meat Video by Roxy Velez and the Vexquisit team.
