Tesco launches a vegan sausage roll – and it's cheaper than Greggs'

Tesco is launching an on-the-go vegan sausage roll.

The meat-free roll comes hot on the heels of Greggs vegan sausage roll reveal, which though divided critics, was a runaway success in terms of sales.

Now Tesco have, er, rolled out their own version of the ready-to-eat baked snack in a bid to keep up with the high street bakery chain.

READ MORE: How healthy are vegetarian and vegan fast food options?

Tesco’s roll doesn’t contain any meat or dairy, making it vegan. The official product description says it is “puff pastry filled with a soy-based Lincolnshire style sausage, seasoned with sage and onion.”

The free-from snack is now available from the in-store bakeries of 624 stores nationwide and will set you back just 75p, cheaper than the Greggs vegan roll which costs £1.

It’s hardly surprising that Tesco are keen to dip their toes in the vegan sausage roll waters following the runaway success of Greggs own meat-free roll.

The vegan sausage roll was launched on January 3 in 900 stores, attracting huge amounts of attention in the media, as well as sparking a debate online when Piers Morgan pretended to vomit after sampling the roll on television.

The twist on an old favourite proved a huge success with the snack catapulting sales by 9.6% in just seven weeks and was later rolled out to all of Greggs’ 1,850 stores across the UK.

The move comes as increasing numbers of big food brands and restaurants widen their menus to make them more vegetarian and vegan friendly.

Earlier this year McDonalds introduced a vegetarian option to its Happy Meal range, the first ever in the company’s 63-year history.

It means vegetarian children can now chow down on a red pesto goujon tortilla wrap garnished with tomato ketchup and shredded lettuce.

The fast food chain also announced plans for vegan McNuggets.

READ MORE: Should veganism be considered a religion?

Meanwhile other food outlets including Subway, Pizza Hut and KFC have also launched vegetarian and vegan alternatives.

Most recently, Burger King jumped on the meat-free bandwagon by launching a vegan version of its famous ‘Whopper’ burger.

The trend is tapping into a wider, global interest in veganism. In the UK alone, 7% of the national population identify as vegan, which accounts to more than 3.5 million vegans.