Any and all food marketed towards vegans is most likely, UPF or ultra processed food.

This doesn't mean veganism is wrong and neither am I attacking vegans.

But the evidence is remarkably clear that vegan foods marketed towards people who call themselves vegans, is almost certainly, UPF.

Walking through the aisles of Tesco, like many super markets, there is now a "free from" range or a section of the refrigerators that is specifically vegan and animal free food.

However, all that food falls into the category of UPF food.

First, let's examine what's not in the vegan section of a supermarket.

There are no fruits, no vegetables, no pasta, no legumes, no beans, pulses or grains.

Instead, you're faced with a plethora of branded, marketable and patent protected food products that either replace a conventional meat or vegetarian based meal.

Or a meal that is designed to be vegan only, and aimed at vegans.

Here's the problem. Whatever side of the vegan debate you fall on, it's fair to say that the vegan movement has grown exponentially in recent years.

The idea of avoiding any and all products that are linked to animal suffering or death is, in principle, a noble one.

I can absolutely understand someone seeing a documentary on battery farms or large scale industrial farming and decide "I don't want to be a part of this anymore".

Or perhaps someone sees an animal and thinks "there's no way I could eat this."

For the record, I am not a vegan, but I do believe that on the whole more people should consume less meat.

Especially low quality, mass produced meat.

But vegans have inadvertently created a massive problem for themselves and the wider consumer market in general.

They have created a targetable and definable category of food consumption; food free from animals, which the petro-chemical industry, marketing agencies and investment banks have cottoned onto and began to target.

In their effort to fight the status quo and strive for a different source of nutrition, they have created the very thing they're fighting against.

Vegans are a targetable market.

Targetable markets are very attractive to large corporations because they can create protected brands, proprietary ingredients and household brands.

And with that, they are able to produce a range of extremely profitable, high profit margin, mass produced chemicals that replace real food.

No vegan on Earth would say "I'll gladly give up animal products if I can have mass produced chemicals instead".

Many of them steer away from meat products in the first place because of the treatment of animals and vegetables with anti-biotics, steroids and pesticides.

Make absolutely no mistake about it, that trendy, funky packaged vegan meal that "tastes just like real beef" is as far away from healthy vegetables as it is animals.

And this is a symptom of a larger problem.

We have began to see "vegan food" as a healthier to a traditional meat based diet.

Vegans are slim, sexy and their skin looks great.

They're marketed as forward thinking, healthy and conscientious.

Beautiful actors and actresses wax lyrical about their clean, vegan diet.

So, when we attach the label of "vegan" to any food, we'll believe that it's healthy.

Despite the fact that it absolute is not.

Any and all food marketed at a specific diet, goal, insecurity, health option or convenience is ultra processed

Ultra Processed Freedom tenant

Full of sugar, salt, chemicals, additives, flavourings and preservatives. Food specifically marketed towards vegans is as healthy as any other convenient diet based food product.

We know that ready meals and TV dinners have chemicals in them. We know that most packaged and branded food has excess sugar, sweeteners and preservatives in them.

So why would vegan pre-packaged and branded food be any different?

It isn't.

UPF exists to increase consumption and increase profit for the benefit of the manufacturer and it's shareholders

Ultra Processed Freedom tenant

Large corporations, the investment banks that run them and greedy marketing agencies have realised that they can capture a segmented portion of a VERY lucrative, wealthy and evangelical market.

Predatory practices mean that the exact same companies that mass produce low quality meat products like sausages, chicken nuggets and burgers, are also producing vegan meals.

This is a screenshot of the search term "vegan" on an online supermarket.

Richmond "meat free" sausages make pork sausages.

Quorn is about as ultra processed as you can get.

Skittles and "sticky toffee" Graze snacks are of course - not healthy.

The point is that vegan food is no longer true vegan food.

It's a market segment that has attracted investors and corporations to create branded, protected and highly profitable products in order to increase consumption and shareholder profits.

You can't brand a pepper or a cabbage or lentils.

You can brand, market and increase consumption with preservatives and chemicals a patented and proprietary product and call it - vegan meals.