Heather Mills has blamed the “gaslighting” meat industry for the collapse of her vegan food empire.
Ms Mills, who previously stated ambitions to turn the North East of England into the “Silicon Valley of plant-based foods”, said in a statement on her website that she was “devastated” as VBites prepares to file for administration this week.
VBites was founded in 1993 and describes itself as the “original plant-based food pioneers”. It makes meat-free sausages, burgers and fish fingers, and previously had a supplier deal with McDonald’s.
From the Telegraph:
Ms Mills criticised celebrity campaigns promoting dairy products and the meat industry for fuelling the decline in demand for vegan foods.
Ms Mills wrote: “One of the major issues the plant-based market needs to tackle is the galvanised and well-funded marketing of misinformation currently being undertaken by the meat and dairy industries – and sadly backed by select celebrities who, in my view, should take their responsibilities as influencers much more seriously.
“Many of the campaigns we are seeing such as the ‘Got milk’ campaign by the dairy industry, joking about plant milk, insulting lactose intolerant people as well as ethical environmental animal lovers, are well-funded gaslighting initiatives that detract from the facts and sow the seeds of doubt in consumers who deserve to know the truth.
“The plant-based industry needs to take a lead from the dairy industry in unifying its voice but as a force for good and promotion of the facts – as opposed to a litany of lies and misinformation.”
Ms Mills, who is the ex-wife of Sir Paul McCartney, added that a combination of “corporate greed and poor management”, the cost of living crisis and rising prices were also to blame for VBites’ collapse.
In 2021, Ms Mills sold a 25pc stake in VBites to Pfeifer & Langen, the owner of German food company Intersnack which counts Tyrrells crisps and Hula Hoops among its brands.
She added: “It is unsurprising and inevitable that where profits are to be made, amorphous corporate entities will follow and unfortunately their practices too often undermine the entrepreneurial spirit, flexibility and agility of movement that saw plant-based entrepreneurs have so much success.
“There is too often a tendency to treat their investments as short-term experiments and opportunistic flights of fancy, embalm them in restrictive governance and then either walk away or enforce a takeover when the market hits a bump.”
Ms Mills founded VBites after she gave up animal products as an alternative therapy to traditional medicine, claiming it aided her recovery from the 1993 traffic accident which caused the loss of one of her legs.
The company, which owns three factories in the North East of England, sells more than 140 different products to supermarkets, as well as catering and hospitality businesses, exporting its products to 20 different countries.
Since the pandemic demand for plant-based food has slowed and numerous vegan food companies have collapsed, including Meatless Farm, which was bought by a rival brand, VFC, in June.
Big food suppliers such as Nestlé, meanwhile, have axed some of their vegan products, while supermarkets have cut back the number of lines they sell. Pret a Manger has closed most of its “Veggie Pret” stores.
When the sausage maker Heck cut its range of vegan products from 15 down to two earlier this year, its founder, Andrew Keeble, said: “The public somehow wasn’t quite ready for it yet. They didn’t want all that veg in the sausage.”
Ms Mills said she had invested “tens of millions of pounds” of her own money into VBites and tried “every solution I feasibly could to keep it going”.
She added: “Anyone that knows me well, knows the blood, sweat and tears that my team and I have put into the business, for the sole purpose of furthering the plant-based movement, of which we have been the pioneers for over 30 years and effecting a major shift in global human health, the preservation of the environment and the protection of animal welfare.”
Ms Mills, who previously stated ambitions to turn the North East of England into the “Silicon Valley of plant-based foods”, said in a statement on her website that she was “devastated” as VBites prepares to file for administration this week.
VBites was founded in 1993 and describes itself as the “original plant-based food pioneers”. It makes meat-free sausages, burgers and fish fingers, and previously had a supplier deal with McDonald’s.
From the Telegraph:
Ms Mills criticised celebrity campaigns promoting dairy products and the meat industry for fuelling the decline in demand for vegan foods.
Ms Mills wrote: “One of the major issues the plant-based market needs to tackle is the galvanised and well-funded marketing of misinformation currently being undertaken by the meat and dairy industries – and sadly backed by select celebrities who, in my view, should take their responsibilities as influencers much more seriously.
“Many of the campaigns we are seeing such as the ‘Got milk’ campaign by the dairy industry, joking about plant milk, insulting lactose intolerant people as well as ethical environmental animal lovers, are well-funded gaslighting initiatives that detract from the facts and sow the seeds of doubt in consumers who deserve to know the truth.
“The plant-based industry needs to take a lead from the dairy industry in unifying its voice but as a force for good and promotion of the facts – as opposed to a litany of lies and misinformation.”
Ms Mills, who is the ex-wife of Sir Paul McCartney, added that a combination of “corporate greed and poor management”, the cost of living crisis and rising prices were also to blame for VBites’ collapse.
In 2021, Ms Mills sold a 25pc stake in VBites to Pfeifer & Langen, the owner of German food company Intersnack which counts Tyrrells crisps and Hula Hoops among its brands.
She added: “It is unsurprising and inevitable that where profits are to be made, amorphous corporate entities will follow and unfortunately their practices too often undermine the entrepreneurial spirit, flexibility and agility of movement that saw plant-based entrepreneurs have so much success.
“There is too often a tendency to treat their investments as short-term experiments and opportunistic flights of fancy, embalm them in restrictive governance and then either walk away or enforce a takeover when the market hits a bump.”
Ms Mills founded VBites after she gave up animal products as an alternative therapy to traditional medicine, claiming it aided her recovery from the 1993 traffic accident which caused the loss of one of her legs.
The company, which owns three factories in the North East of England, sells more than 140 different products to supermarkets, as well as catering and hospitality businesses, exporting its products to 20 different countries.
Since the pandemic demand for plant-based food has slowed and numerous vegan food companies have collapsed, including Meatless Farm, which was bought by a rival brand, VFC, in June.
Big food suppliers such as Nestlé, meanwhile, have axed some of their vegan products, while supermarkets have cut back the number of lines they sell. Pret a Manger has closed most of its “Veggie Pret” stores.
When the sausage maker Heck cut its range of vegan products from 15 down to two earlier this year, its founder, Andrew Keeble, said: “The public somehow wasn’t quite ready for it yet. They didn’t want all that veg in the sausage.”
Ms Mills said she had invested “tens of millions of pounds” of her own money into VBites and tried “every solution I feasibly could to keep it going”.
She added: “Anyone that knows me well, knows the blood, sweat and tears that my team and I have put into the business, for the sole purpose of furthering the plant-based movement, of which we have been the pioneers for over 30 years and effecting a major shift in global human health, the preservation of the environment and the protection of animal welfare.”
