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UK BAKERY CHAIN Greggs has launched its new vegan sausage roll today, after details of its newest offering sparked a row on social media.

Greggs – which has over 1,700 branches across Britain – tweeted yesterday that the “wait was over” with the launch of its vegan sausage roll which contains a Quorn filling as opposed to the pork sausage version.

This announcement led to a backlash on Twitter, with presenter Piers Morgan among the most prominent giving out about it in a series of posts.

“Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns,” he wrote. 

This was echoed by many others who complained that Greggs was offering a vegan option when it came to sausage rolls.

The social media team at Greggs, however, was on hand to respond to its critics.

In response to one user who said “bloody vegans”, it wrote: “The classic sausage roll is still available… it’s all ok.”

Greggs / Twitter Greggs / Twitter / Twitter

Another said: “Can you call it a sausage roll if there’s no sausage meat in it?” Greggs replied: “We did.”

To Piers Morgan, the chain replied: “Oh hello Piers, we’ve been expecting you.”

Morgan replied with further posts criticising the introduction of the vegan sausage rolls, and also had a go at McDonald’s for introducing its first vegetarian happy meal today.

Petition

The bakery chain said the launch of the new product came on the back of “strong consumer demand”. Last year, 20,000 people signed a petition from Peta calling for a vegan sausage roll.

Greggs chief executive Roger Whiteside said the company decided to launch it this month to coincide with Veganuary – a campaign designed to encourage people to try to be vegan for a whole month.

“We have been trying to develop a Vegan version of our famous sausage roll for some time now,” he said. “It has not been easy but our taste panel customers all love this one, so we have decided to launch it as our contribution to Veganuary.”