Biggest most influencial #WorldVeganDay #WorldVeganMonth set to Rock the World

Your help is need to reach over a million new potential vegans during #WorldVeganMonth which is kick-starting on #worldveganday 1st November. Please click on the link below to the one time vegan thunderclap

2017 has been a phenomenal year for the worldwide vegan community, google trends show interest in vegan in the UK has quadrupled since early 2015

Vegan interest quadrupled since Jan 2015

In 2015 there were around 30 Vegan Fairs, this year in 2017 there were 150 vegan fairs and festivals and yet despite this VegfestUK London was bigger than ever before with 280 exhibitors, hoards of caterers and a new vegan trade show tacked on.

Vegan fairs and festivals more than quadrupled since 2015

I worked hard last year and the beginning of this year to encourage retailers to make sure they followed Pret's lead and stocked a vegan sandwich. I think everyone now sells a vegan sandwich or wrap apart from Asda who say they are "working on it". Marks and Spencers renowned for putting dairy in everything whether it needed it or not (even the Sushi!) now have a great vegan range.

Asda now only supermarket with no vegan sandwich/wrap

I've now turned my attention to pubs whose accessibility for vegans has been made a lot more accommodating by Guinness taking the fish fining out of their world famous stout (Yes Draught Guinness is now Vegan). Luckily BidFood (formerly Bidvest 3663) one of the biggest wholesale  distributors to the catering trade has introduced some vegan desserts, vegan cheese and some vegan savoury items which has left no excuses for the On trade/Pub trade.

Brewers Fayre  - No Vegan Christmas Option

Other new vegan products this include new palm oil free vegan margarine by Flora , Ben and Jerrys vegan ice creams, new vegan dairy free cheeses by Tescos, Sainsburys and in Waitrose, a range of new vegan products by Quorn meat alternatives as well as a universal move to remove the egg from supermarket vegetarian products that would otherwise be vegan.

Vegan pizzas are not just being sold in Pizza Express, Zizzis and Ask but also beginning to appear in supermarkets too starting with Sainsbury's. Independent vegan cafes and restaurants have had to work hard to keep up with the new level of quality and choice now available on the high street.

The coconut craze has meant a whole new generation of ice creams, milks, yogurt and desserts that has left consumers with no excuses but to ditch dairy.

Oat products from Oatly such as the new Creme fraiche and the barista milk has further eaten into  dairy sales making the dairy industry less and less viable every week. The advertising standards authority finding that the slogan "There's no such thing as Humane Milk" was indeed legitimate was a massive blow to Dairy Farmers who faced with Brexit and loss of subsidies are literally at the end of their tether. Smart dairy farmers in  Canada and the USA have moved on to Pea Milk which has more protein than other plant milks and more calcium than cow's milk. Look out for new brands in 2018. Omega 3 rich flax milk is also a thing now.

Please help keep the momentum going and encourage all your non vegan friends to try going vegan for #WorldVeganMonth. 2-3 clicks is all it takes via facebook or twitter or just cut and paste the link

EU Last Law: Ham Sandwiches to be Banned in Schools Hospitals

Ham Sandwiches to be Banned in Schools and Hospitals

Embargoed until April 1^st

In an uncharacteristic liberal style move the Govt has been in secret talks to ban ham, burgers, sausages and other processed meats in NHS hospitals and schools by 1^st April 2018.

In a 9th hour move the EU managed to sneak this new vegan law into the statute books before article 50 was invoked this week by PM Theresa May and thus automatically uploaded into our statute books via The Great Repeal Bill 

New EU Vegan Rules on Meal Deals April 1st

Until relatively recently ingredients such as testicles, rectum and udder were allowed in school sausages but regulations have been tightened up.

A typical recipe for school/hospital sausages ("pork product" made "down to a price" to win a local authority contract - Guardian May 2003) now looks something like this;

·         50% "meat", of which 30% is pork fat with a bit of jowl

·         20% mechanically recovered chicken meat

·         17% water

·         30% rusk and soya

·         soya concentrate

·         hydrolysed protein

·         modified flour, dried onion, sugar, dextrose, phosphates, preservative E221 sodium sulphite, flavour enhancer, spices, garlic flavouring, antioxidant E300 (ascorbic acid), colouring E128 (red 2G). Casings: made from collagen from cow hide

In the light of the World Health Organisation’s re categorisation of processed meat products (Risk: Highest -  Processed meat causes cancer IARC. WHO. BBC Oct 2015) and perhaps fearing resultant legal action from parents and school governors, heads of education and health departments have been discussing banning processed meat products.

Ham Sandwiches become Vegan Hahm Sandwiches from 1st April

The proposed plan is to replace all processed meats with like sounding plant based vegan products reveals junior health minister Ms Simmo Lay

Leading Nutritionist Dr Bin MaFoud says “In reality most of any beneficial nutrients in typical local authority purchased ‘processed meat products’ comes from soya anyway so a move to plant based alternatives makes sense”

“The food industry is now awash with very realistic processed meat alternatives that have same or better taste, texture and protein content than existing products. Patients and schoolchildren probably wouldn’t even realise they are being given plant based alternatives.”

“Menus would need to be re written with just omitting or adding one letter for trade description reasons so thus sausage becomes sossage, chicken becomes chikken, mince and burgers stays the same as does Hot Dog, ham becomes hahm and chorizo becomes Chorriso” Says professor of food psychology Professor Joe King

Many sandwich providers are ahead of the game already offering Vegan options

School Packed lunches will not escape in case children swap food and schools risk being held responsible for future cancer risk. Ham sandwiches will join the school ban on chocolate and crisps that already exists in schools along with salami, sausages, bacon, beefburgers and hamburgers, chicken nuggets and pepperami.

Ofsted will have the policing of new health standards in schools added to their list of responsibilities but it is not yet clear who will police the standards of food in hospitals as currently hospitals don’t appear to have many standards for the quality of food.

A Daily Mail reader, Ivor Beef, 68, from Barking, Essex said "If the EU thinks my son is going to eat more vegetables then they've go another think coming. Eating sausages and bacon and ham is a basic British human right along with bent bananas and blue passports. If  British citizens want to increase their risk of heart disease, stroke, cancers and diabetes than that's their sovereign right and the Euros can bog off back across the channel with their daft liberal ideas about saving the planet and national health.

Karin Ridgers Founder of VeggieVison TV adds, “Luckily there is a plant based version of everything nowadays so no one need miss out on taste and texture, the animals and planet will thank you and you could live longer too.”

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer/how-healthy-eating-prevents-cancer

Date:  April 1st

Marks and Spencer's Vegan Salad Sandwich Goes Viral

Food manufacturing, food service hospitality and retailers should take note.

Apparently now all you have to do is bring out a salad sandwich and it's National News!

Finally after many years of badgering Marks and Spencers / M&S made a sandwich without a little bit of dairy in it, a habit which has been annoying vegans for a very long time.

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