The survey by Eating Better targeted four high street chains (Pret, EAT, Subway and Greggs) and eight supermarkets (M&S, Boots, Waitrose, Morrison, Co-Op, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda) and found only 19 out of 535 (4%) were plant-based (i.e. did not contain meat, fish, cheese or eggs as main ingredients).
The number marks a slight increase on last years survey but still the market is dominated by meat or fish based options (77%). Pret and M&S were found to have the best selection with five or six plant-based options.
Sue Dibb of Eating Better, said: “It's great news that some companies are responding to the growth in the flexitarian eating market and have plans to expand their ranges.
“But, on the whole, customers seeking healthier sandwiches with a lower environmental impact are being let down by slim pickings. We're calling on all food businesses to step up to the plate and offer a better range of delicious plant-based sandwiches made with vegetables and pulses."
Greggs was the only high street retailer surveyed to have no plant-based option, along with supermarket Asda. Subway had only one or two options and EAT had three to four.
Pret recently announced that it would open a vegetarian-only pop-up site in Junr and is currently promoting its ‘not just for veggies’ range across its stores. EAT has also pledged to increase its vegetarian and vegan range in the coming months.
Eating Better has launched the #MeatFreeLunch campaign to encourage people to swap their lunchtime meat, fish, cheese or egg sandwich for a vegetable-based option, or try making their own.