We're all encouraged to eat a little less meat in order to save not just the planet, but for the sake of our bodies so we can become a little healthier - especially when it comes to processed meat like sausages. But people have been left mortified after watching how vegan sausages are made on Channel 4's Supermarkets Unwrapped: The Vegan Aisle, with some saying that they felt "sick" at the processes undertaken to make the products.
The documentary, which has proven to be controversial, saw Helen Lawal visit Tesco to learn more about vegan burgers and Kate Quilton discovered how to get milk from oats - something many people wonder about.
And John Whaite visited a sausage factory to watch the vegan alternative being produced, which left many viewers cringing.
The programme received some backlash, with one person taking to Twitter to fume, writing: "Watching Supermarkets Unwrapped on Channel 4. They're doing vegan aisle. Dear God, the extent manufacturers will go to produce ultra-processed food c*** to replace natural foods. If you want to be vegan, eat actual plants, not this synthetic sh**."
The team investigated plant-based sausages on the show, as they'd noticed a lot of vegan sausages available on the market are coated in a sausage casing, similar to their meat counterparts, so they wanted to know what the differences were.
John visited Heck Foods in Yorkshire where he met with innovations manager Callum Smith, who explained that they "use a textured vegetable protein" to make the product taste similar to a pork sausage. He explained: "We bump the meat-free sausage mix and a gel into this little head at the same time. This is alginate gel and it's made from seaweed."
The vegetable sausage mix then passes under calcium chloride solution, the skin of the sausage is cut and it's ready to be cut into individual portions, ready for the consumer.
But people weren't impressed by the process, with a Twitter user writing: "This Channel 4 programme 'Supermarket Unwrapped' really showing some disgusting concoctions in the making of vegan food", followed by a throwing-up emoji.
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