Less than a month after facing administration, the UK fake meat company Meatless Farm has its products back on supermarket shelves just weeks after being acquired by the vegan company VFC, which produces vegan fast food made of wheat.
VFC Co-founder Matthew Glover, known for also having co-founded Veganuary, said to Vegconomist, “Those claiming the plant-based food movement has peaked are mistaken. The consumer appetite for plant-based is still there and at a total EU level, the category is in growth, with unit sales growth of the plant-based milk, meat and cheese categories outpacing that of animal-based counterparts. “The acquisition of the Meatless Farm brand is a major step in our mission to remove animals from the food chain and we’re only just getting started.”
According to a press release, Meatless Farm will be relaunching into further retailers beyond the supermarket Asda, and across food service across the next two months, supported by a national multi-channel marketing campaign.
Dave Sparrow, CEO of Meatless Farm and VFC, said: “Getting Meatless Farm back on-shelf for our valued consumers is our number one priority and we have been working tirelessly with our partners and customers to make this happen… We’re delighted that shoppers can now find the Meatless Farm core range in Asda, as well as first-to-market innovation from the brand. Our pasta lines stretch the brand into a new eating occasion and we’re excited to be the first brand to launch a plant-based Pork & Apple Sausage, converting new consumers via a premium, top-selling flavour profile from the meat category.”
In 2022, VFC exposed a propaganda video of the giant chicken fast food company KFC by investigating a UK farm featured in it. In December 2021, YouTuber Niko Omilana visited a farm operated by the meat company Moy Park, one of the chicken flesh producers that sell chicken to KFC, as part of the pro-meat film Behind the Bucket, paid by KFC. The very same farm was visited in February 2022 by undercover investigators working on behalf of VFC, and they found a very different picture.
