Vegan cheese substitutes: a good alternative?

Dairy-free plant-based substitutes contain hardly any bacterial pathogens

09-Dec-2024

Symbol image

computer generated picture

Vegan cheese alternatives are becoming increasingly popular. However, during production, potentially disease-causing bacteria can multiply in the nuts used. This can be dangerous for sensitive consumer groups. As part of the nationwide monitoring plan (BÜp), vegan cheese alternatives based on nuts were therefore tested for their microbiological status. The good news: pathogens were only detected in a few products.

Like cheese, vegan alternative products are also produced by fermentation. Potentially disease-causing bacteria can multiply if the bacterial count is not reduced, for example through pasteurization. For example, outbreaks of listeria-related illnesses occurred in France in 2022 following the consumption of vegan cheese alternatives, which also affected pregnant women.

In order to obtain nationwide results on the microbiological status of these products in Germany, 375 samples of vegan cheese alternatives based on almonds, cashews, walnuts and nut mixtures were tested for various pathogens as part of the BÜp in 2023.

Bacterial pathogens were only detected in a few samples. Presumptive Bacillus cereus was detected in eight of 357 samples tested (2.2 %) and Clostridium perfringens in one of 339 samples tested (0.3 %). Salmonella, coagulase-positive staphylococci and listeria were not detected in any samples.

"The results of this nationwide investigation show that pathogenic microorganisms were only detected in rare cases. This is encouraging, as such trendy vegan products are becoming increasingly popular," Friedel Cramer, President of the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL), is pleased to note. "Nevertheless, consumers should always be aware that vegan cheese alternatives can also contain pathogenic germs." Sensitive consumer groups such as pregnant women and elderly or immunocompromised people should therefore avoid vegan cheese substitutes to be on the safe side.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1185085/vegan-cheese-substitutes-a-good-alternative.html