EXCLUSIVEIs Britain going veggie by stealth? MailOnline reveals the 'pork' sausages on supermarket shelves that contain more fake meat than the real thing
Vegetarian food firm Quorn revealed earlier this month it planned to start offering 'blended meat' products, surprising carnivores and non-meat eaters alike.
The 'half-and-half' products will be 50 per cent pork or beef and 50 per cent the brands trademark meat-alternative mycoprotein ingredient, made from fungus.
Quorn boss Marco Bertacca said they would first be supplied to NHS hospitals in a bid to make patients' meals healthier — possibly by the end of the year.
But critics reacted angrily, claiming the move revealed health chiefs had a hidden agenda to make Britain 'veggie by stealth'.
Now, MailOnline has discovered this practice may have been going on for some time — and many meat products are far less meaty than many might realise.
Here MailOnline reveals the pork bangers for sale on supermarket shelves with the lowest meat content, and what surprising veggie additives, like algae and bamboo, are already in them
The humble pork banger could soon be overhauled and made more veggie in a bid to make us healthier but ones on supermarket shelves already containing a surprising variety of non-meat components from bamboo to algae
Legally, a pork sausage in the UK must be 42 per cent for the pork. And many options on supermarket shelves are more veggie — containing ingredients like algae, soya and bamboo — than meat.
Richmond's Thick Pork Sausages and Thin Pork Sausages, as well as some on offer at Tesco and Iceland, toed the line when it comes to their products, meeting the legal minimum of 42 per cent pork.
For Richmond, in addition to water and seasoning, it also added wheat and soya protein.
Walls Thick Pork Sausages are just 61 per cent meat, and also contain soya protein alongside wheat and potato starch.
Soya protein is a main ingredient in many modern 'fake meat' products, including Impossible burgers and sausages, as it has a chewy, meaty texture.
Tesco's 42 per cent meat Butcher's Choice pork sausages were bulked up with wheat flour whilst Iceland's standard pork sausages contained both wheat flour and barley.
But it was Asda that topped the charts in terms of sheer number of non-meat ingredients in its sausages.
Both its Just Essentials pork sausages (51 per cent meat) as well as it's Flavourful Jumbo Pork Sausages (72 per cent meat) contained rice flour, chickpea flour, potato starch, cornflour and were encased not in a meat product but in calcium alginate.
Calcium alginate is a modern food product derived from algae and has become a preferred sausage casing for some manufacturers due to its hardy but edible structure and how easily it can be processed compared to traditional intestines.
Quorn sits alongside other plant-based meat-alternatives on supermarket shelves
Former PM Rishi Sunak looks at the production line during a visit to Quorn's headquarters
Morrison's The Best Thick Pork Sausages (90 per cent meat) was another offering that had some surprising veggie additives including tapioca flour and psyllium, a fibre made from the seeds of plantago ovata, a herb used in Indian cuisine.
Tesco's Finest Traditional Pork Sausages (90 per cent meat) and its standard Pork Sausages (56 per cent meat) have bamboo fibre as a listed ingredient.
Sausages are typically not 100 per cent meat, and include fat and rusk, made from wheat, to help bind the meat and seasonings together.
Rusk also provides a pleasant texture and helps to prevent sausages from splitting while cooking as it absorbs fats.
While wheat was, and still is, one of the most commonly used, some manufacturers opt for rice flour, to make their products gluten free and appeal to more customers.
Butchers are also keen to point out that a higher meat percentage doesn't necessarily always make a better sausage.
On website True Bites butcher Matt Rhoades writes: 'A good breakfast sausage should have around a 55 per cent pork content or more,' he said.
'This is ideal as is produces a nice texture that's not too heavy or gritty.'
And for your summer barbeque, bangers and mash Mr Rhoades advised people opt for at least a 75 per cent meat sausage.
'This produces a nice, firm and meaty sausage, which is perfect for bangers and mash, a posh breakfast, or awesome hotdogs on the BBQ,' he said.
Quorn Foods bid to put its mycoprotein products like sausage is part of the company's bid to help flexitarians, those who only eat meat occasionally for health reasons or who are worried about the environmental cost of meat consumption.
A healthy diet which limits the amount of red and processed meats, high sugar, fat and salt foods and alcohol has been linked to a lower incidence of cancer
Sausages are considered a processed meat product and typically contain high levels of fat and salt, and the NHS advises Brits to cut down to, at most, eating 70g per day.
A diet high fat and salt can contribute to obesity and high blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Some studies have also linked eating lots of red meat to an increased the risk of bowel cancer, though Cancer Research UK says further research is needed.
WHAT SHOULD A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE?
The average woman is advised to have 2,000 per day to maintain a healthy weight and a third of the 2,500 recommended for the typical man
• Eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. All fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruit and vegetables count
• Base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally wholegrain
• 30 grams of fibre a day: This is the same as eating all of the following: 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, 2 whole-wheat cereal biscuits, 2 thick slices of wholemeal bread and large baked potato with the skin on
• Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks) choosing lower fat and lower sugar options
• Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 portions of fish every week, one of which should be oily)
• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and consuming in small amounts
• Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of water a day
• Adults should have less than 6g of salt and 20g of saturated fat for women or 30g for men a day
Source: NHS Eatwell Guide
