Green brands: Quorn

Quorn is a food brand offering a meat-alternative protein. 

When we surveyed people about the brands they consider to be sustainable choices, 66% of people who had recently bought from Quorn told us they viewed it as sustainable.

We carried out a survey of Which? members in February 2023, digging into their perceptions of brands when it comes to sustainability. We asked members to rate how sustainable a brand was that they’d bought from in the last two years and then to give us their reasons why. We then took a further look behind the scenes at some of the higher scoring brands, to see whether the reality lives up to shoppers' high expectations.*

The top reasons people gave us for Quorn’s sustainability were because it: makes low environmental impact products (48%); uses sustainable farming practices (23%) and is a well-established brand (23%).

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Alternative proteins and the impact of meat on the environment

To consider Quorn's sustainability, we need to look at the market it's in. Alternative meat proteins generally have far lower environmental impact than the protein we get from eating meat. Farming livestock to eat contributes to land and water degradation, biodiversity loss and deforestation and produces large carbon emissions, particularly red meat.

Ecologically speaking, eating animal products are an inefficient way to consume protein – the inputs of food and water needed to grow an animal are huge and much of the energy consumed is lost. Eating vegetable proteins directly is more efficient and significantly reduces the amount of land needed for agriculture.

But, of course, producing plant-based crops or alternative protein sources are not without their own environmental challenges. Processed plant-based foods may contain ingredients such as palm oil or soya, which can be harmful to the environment. Look out for those that come from carefully and rigorously managed supply chains.

Quorn is heavily processed. But it is a complete protein, containing all nine essential amino acids. It is low in saturated fat and is a good soure of both protein and fibre. 

Quorn has commissioned its own assessments of the environmental footprint data of its products, carried out by the Carbon Trust (more on this below).

Quorn: in summary

Who owns Quorn?

Quorn is part of Marlow Foods. It has been around since 1985 making alternative protein-based products.

Quorn foods are uniquely made using mycoprotein, a type of fungus that is fermented. In the UK, Marlow Foods also owns the Cauldron brand too, which uses other alternative proteins like soya, beans and pulses to make meat-alternatives including sausages and tofu.

Since 2015 the brand’s parent company has been Monde Nissin, a Philippine food and beverage company.

Quorn and its environmental impact and farming practices

The results of the Carbon Trust’s assessment into Quorn when compared to different meat proteins found:

• Compared to beef mince, Quorn mince has 4% of the carbon footprint, 6% of the land-use footprint and 8% of the water footprint.

• Compared to a pork sausage, a Quorn sausage has 11% of the carbon footprint, 21% of the land-use footprint and 39% of the water footprint.

Quorn does use palm oil in its products. All Marlow Foods palm oil is certified as fully segregated Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) – one of the strongest types of certification. This doesn't apply to all the palm oil used by its parent company, Monde Nissin.

Marlow Foods uses soya in some of its Cauldron products, such as tofu. All soya used is deforestation free and is organic. Some is certified by the Roundtable of Responsible Soy Association (RTRS) or Proterra but Quorn doesn't give quantities or percentages.

Quorn uses egg white in some of its vegetarian products, but only uses free range farms.

Quorn mycoprotein is made in 40-metre-high fermenters, using a vertical farming method that reduces the land required for its production.

Other sustainability information

Quorn has not set science-based targets for emissions reductions. It says this is because it felt this approach wasn't right, as it wants to go further. It has committed to be Carbon Net Zero in its operations by 2030.

Its 2022 Net Positive Report, which is published on its website, gives a detailed breakdown of its environmental performance. 

Quorn has stated that by 2025 100% of its packaging will be reusable, compostable or recyclable. Currently 87% of its electricity is from renewable sources. 

 *In November 2022 we asked a panel of Which? members which brands they had bought from or planned to buy from because they believed they were more sustainable than other options in the market. The list of brands our members could choose from in this survey was based on the findings from this.

Interested in sustainable choices? Find out more about supermarkets and the environment, how to buy second-hand online or what makes a green energy supplier.