A vegan organisation is urging the National Health Service (NHS) to include vegan-friendly milks and vitamins to its "discriminatory" Healthy Start voucher scheme.
The scheme is a means-tested initiative and offers pregnant women and parents of children under the age of four vouchers to help them buy foods including milk, vitamins, fruit and vegetables.
The vouchers, which can be used at local retailers, can currently be spent on plain cow’s milk which is whole, semi-skimmed or skimmed and infant formula milk which is made from cow’s milk.
Vegan substitutes such as almond or soya milk cannot be purchased.
As a result, the Vegan Society has written a letter to the NHS urging it to include plant-based milk and a vegan-friendly vitamin D supplements in the initiative.
The letter reads: "The convictions of vegans come within the protection of the law and, on the face of it, it appears that the Healthy Start voucher scheme could be inadvertently discriminatory."
It added: "It is important for everyone to eat calcium-rich foods daily and fortified plant-based milk plays an important role in vegan nutrition.”
Heather Russell, Dietitian at The Vegan Society, tells The Independent: “In fact, the UK’s Eatwell Guide recognises that fortified plant milk represents a valuable alternative to cow’s milk. Calcium content is comparable and the soya variety is similar to cow’s milk in terms of protein quantity and quality.”
The vegan charity also warned that the Healthy Start supplements contain vitamin D from animal fat “which means that the only vegan-friendly nutritional benefit of this scheme is free fruit and vegetables”.
It said the vitamin D supplement currently on offer “unfairly disadvantages vegans and the restriction on the purchase of milk is unjustified”.
The letter also included a warning to the NHS, noting that it "must give due regard to the needs of vegans to ensure compliance with legal duties, and so that vegans do not experience unlawful interference or discrimination”.
A spokesperson for The Vegan Society added that while the organisation recognises the lack of vegan alternatives “was most likely an inadvertent result of the scheme”, they say the organisation looks forward to discussing the issue with the NHS further.
According to the charity, one in three people regularly buy plant based milks and over half (56 per cent) of Brits adopt “vegan buying behaviours” such as buying vegan products and checking if their toiletries are cruelty-free.
Under the Healthy Start scheme, parents who qualify for the initiative are eligible to receive one voucher worth £3.10 per week. Meanwhile, those with children aged under one year old can receive two £3.10 vouchers (£6.20) per week.
The Independent has contacted the Department of Health for comment.
