It has become the health trend of 2018, with an array of athletes and celebrities ditching dairy and other animal products in favour of a vegan lifestyle.

But it appears the health movement is increasingly facing a backlash - with food producers ditching the word "vegan" and replacing it with "plant based".

Britain looks set to become the latest country to follow suit, according to experts who say the moral finger-wagging associated with veganism is putting people off.

One industry body said Europe will be the next place where the trend will take off, following the lead of the US, while a group of academics from the London School of Economics have found some customers are turned off by vegetarian sections in menus.

For years the term vegan has been seen as a possible selling point for healthy foods.

But now American food producers have suggested the word makes people think the food could be bland - or are simply put off by the connotations.