A “healthy” plant-based sausage from the US meat-free brand Beyond Meat will make its UK retail debut in Tesco at the end of September – the second of its products to hit UK supermarket shelves following the launch of its popular “bleeding” burger last year.

The manufacturer – the world’s most valuable meat substitute start-up – claims the so-called Beyond Sausage “looks, sizzles and satisfies” like the real pork equivalent, but contains more protein and less saturated fat.

Plant-based protein – from peas, fava beans and rice – has been used to create the “sausages”, enhanced with a trace of beetroot to lend a “meaty colour” and coconut oil to create juiciness, enclosed in a casing made from algae. Already on sale in the US and Canada, they contain no soy or gluten.

The chilled “sausages” will go on sale in the meat cabinets in 458 Tesco branches next week at a cost of £4.95 for two. The first UK restaurant to stock them will be Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton’s new meat-free burger chain in London, Neat Burger, which opened earlier this month.

“This has taken years to develop and we believe that the difference between a real sausage and Beyond Sausage is indistinguishable” said Ethan Brown, chief executive officer and co-founder of Beyond Meat.

He said the company had been keen to develop an authentic-tasting pork-like sausage because of growing health warnings around highly processed meat. Replicating a sausage was particularly challenging because of the “varied bite” of the texture, resulting from the use of different parts of animal fat and muscle, he said.

Manufacturers, supermarkets and restaurants are all scrambling to cash in on a changing food landscape in the UK as consumers embrace flexitarian diets – where a largely vegetable-based diet is occasionally supplemented with meat – and experiment with meat alternatives and plant-based eating.

Other vegan sausages have come to market although taste tests have proved mixed. The UK-based meat substitute manufacturer Quorn produces its own as well as providing the mycoprotein for the filling of Greggs’ best-selling vegan sausage roll.

Earlier this year the British food tech company Moving Mountains launched a plant-based hot dog with sunflower seeds as its main ingredient.

The UK launch follows Beyond Meat’s strong growth in the US. The company, based in El Segundo, California, was founded 10 years ago by tech entrepreneur Brown. It found early backing from legendary Silicon Valley financiers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers – and later from Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio – before it brought its first product, a chicken-free “chicken”, to market in 2013.

This week sushi was the latest unlikely foodstuff to get a vegan makeover, hitting the shelves of the upmarket department store Selfridges. The retailer is selling new sushi sets from disruptor brand IMA – Japanese for “now” – which has pledged to redefine and reinvent sushi to reflect sustainability concerns as well as changing consumer tastes.

The “salmon” rolls are crafted from an Asian root vegetable called konjac, a colourless jelly-like substance which is being used increasingly to fashion vegan versions of faux fish and seafood. All the sushi is hand-rolled and packed in 100% biodegradable packaging.