Pioneering vegan egg replacement brand Just Egg has so far failed to launch in the UK, due to an ongoing lack of regulatory signoff for its mung bean protein ingredients.
Just Egg, in collaboration with the Vegan Food Group, had promised a UK launch in April 2025, claiming there was nothing in the UK market that could “stack up” against its taste credentials.
Owned by US plant-based firm Eat Just, the brand had planned to launch in Ocado and Sainsbury’s last spring, backed by a £5m investment.
Eat Just first outlined plans for a UK launch for Just Egg – which was an early beneficiary of the US plant-based boom – back in 2018. It applied for authorisation of mung bean protein as a novel food in January 2021, but hadn’t received approval from the FSA when it announced its launch in April.
The food safety regulator found mung bean protein to be safe for consumption last July, and said it was not considered to be nutritionally disadvantageous – prompting the brand to announce an Ocado launch in the UK last August.
However, it has since emerged Just Egg did not actually go on sale, due to the need for ministerial sign-off on the FSA’s approval, before it was permitted to launch in UK supermarkets.
Consumers have expressed disappointment over the lack of launch on the brand’s Instagram, with many questioning when it would be made available, to no response from the business.
“Is the launch still happening? There have been no posts for a while and there’s still no info as to when or where we can buy the product?” asked one Instagram user.
Read more: Meatless Farm and VFC to separate from The Vegan Food Group
The Vegan Food Group has exclusive rights to manufacture and supply Just Egg across European markets. It is manufactured in VFG’s German factory and has launched into 280 Rewe stores across Berlin, Frankfurt, Mainz and surrounding areas earlier this week.
It comes as there has been a major shake up at the plant-based business as VFC Foods has announced it will separate from the parent company to be led by co-founder Adam Lyons. VFC is now dual-funded by its original investor the Ahimza Foundation and Lyons, a situation he said, “gives us real stability and clarity”.
Meanwhile, The Grocer’s sister title British Baker this week reported that VFG had decided to close it’s bakery for it’s Clive’s Purely Plants brand in Dartmouth, leading to 32 redundancies at the end of last year. It has also closed its head office in York as it shifts its focus to its plant-based factory in Germany.
Eat Just did not respond to request for comment.
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