Greggs to sell vegan version of its best-selling sausage roll from tomorrow

BAKERY chain Greggs have announced that they are to launch a ‘vegan friendly’ version of their sausage rolls.

With 1.5 million traditional sausage rolls sold per week, the store said that the UK’s 3.5 million vegans will soon be able to enjoy them too with a “next generation” version of its best-selling item.

The vegan version has some “classic features” of the traditional sausage roll, according to Greggs, including 96 layers of puff pastry – but instead of meat the filling is made with Quorn.

The wait is over… 3.1.19 #vegansausageroll ?? pic.twitter.com/UWcXFCtxdE

— Greggs (@GreggsOfficial) January 2, 2019

Greggs said the launch follows “strong consumer demand”, including a petition by Peta last year signed by more than 20,000 people.

The sausage roll will be on sale in selected stores across the country from tomorrow.

Roger Whiteside, chief executive at Greggs, said: “Like many food retailers we have seen increasing demand for vegetarian and vegan products.

“We have been trying to develop a vegan version of our famous sausage roll for some time now.

“It has not been easy but our taste panel customers all love this one, so we have decided to launch it as our contribution to Veganuary.”

Veganuary encourages people to try vegan food for January and across the year.

Recent research from Waitrose found that a third (33.5%) of people now have meat-free or meat-reduced diets.

Many are dipping in and out of being meat eaters, the research found, with half of those who say they are vegan or vegetarian eating meat “at weekends”, “occasionally” or “on special occasions”.

The vegan sausage roll will go on sale from Thursday.

Meanwhile, TGI Fridays said a new meat-free vegan burger that “bleeds” due to beetroot juice will launch in UK restaurants from January 7.

As well as beetroot, the flame-grilled burger is made from coconut oil, mushrooms, herbs, plant proteins and spices. It is served in a vegan bun.