What Exactly Is An Industrial Vegan?

Last Updated: January 10, 2023

There are countless different types of vegan diets. For example, plant-based vegans choose this diet for health reasons, preferring to eat natural, whole foods.

On the flip side, junk food vegans adopt veganism as a lifestyle that supports animals. Junk food vegans are less health-conscious, indulging in more heavily-processed vegan foods, like mock meats, cheeses, and desserts.

Freegans eat vegan food when they buy or make it themselves but resort to animal products when these foods are free. Generally, a whole or raw food vegan diet highlights the benefits of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds as they are and avoids all types of meat.

Vegan diets are generally low in fat, while some focus on high carbs, opting for potatoes, corn, and other starches to fill them up. Vegans can eat raw or cooked food, depending on their preferences and schedule. Overall, the vegan diet has countless possibilities where you can limit your meat consumption and rely on different plant foods instead.

But what is an industrial vegan? We’ll dive into industrial veganism, providing more history about this trend and answering the previous question to give you a better idea of what this diet entails.

History of the Term Industrial Vegan

An American game show called “The Hustler” was the first to introduce this term. In June 2021, the phrase sparked interest in viewers spurring them to ask: what is an industrial vegan? Unfortunately, the internet couldn’t provide many answers to their questions at the time. Before the show’s premiere, no one searched for the meaning of industrial vegan.

Syd Crouch originally crafted the term, coming up with a way to describe how she chooses her food and how she eats. The short definition of an industrial vegan is someone who avoids animal products raised industrially, using methods like factory farming.

However, industrial vegans may still consume other types of animal products. The term itself might be fairly new, but the concept is the foundation for all vegan diets.

People who have opted to switch to consuming humane, free-range, or organic meat, dairy, and eggs have good intentions. Sadly, factory farms still mistreat the animals. Therefore, people must ask, are these products beneficial for us and the animals?

Understanding the Labels

The government doesn’t heavily regulate many of these programs that label foods organic, free-range, or humane. The animals also don’t reap these benefits. To them, it doesn’t matter whether or not they’re protected if they reach the same fate.

Over the years, the distressing living conditions for animals at so-called free-range farms have been uncovered by various organizations and activists.

In short, these misleading labels deceive customers and don’t reflect the reality of the conditions the animals endure. Manufacturers use these positive claims widely to get customers to buy more, inferring their product is free-range even if they cram the chickens together.

Additionally, the industrial process of raising cattle and other animals influences the environment poorly.

Organic, free-range, and cruelty-free products aim to make a more ethical and sustainable world, yet in some instances, that’s not the reality. So that’s why industrial vegans take raising animals into their own hands.

Meaning of the Term Industrial Vegan

Vegans classify into four primary categories:

Ethical
Environmental
Religious
Health-conscious

Ethical vegans don’t want to support the killing or exploitation of animals by any means. Environmental vegans acknowledge that animal agriculture hurts the environment, contributing to deforestation, greenhouse gasses, and pollution.

Religious vegans don’t consume animals on the grounds of their strict spiritual or cultural beliefs. Health-conscious vegans follow this diet for various reasons, including to lose weight, lower their cholesterol, or monitor their blood sugar.

What category do industrial vegans fall into? Syd Crouch doesn’t buy processed food but eats meat occasionally because she enjoys it. Despite that, an industrial vegan could follow a plant-based diet, emphasizing more raw or vegan whole foods.

The mission of industrial vegans is to limit their consumption of processed food and not support industrial farming. While plant-based meat alternatives are popular amongst vegans and vegetarians to get enough protein in their diets, they’re still considered processed foods.

Crouch’s philosophy is knowing where the meat you consume came from and understanding the importance of that difference. Knowing where the chicken or beef originated impacts the quality of the proteins we eat and harvest. It also ensures the conditions these animals get raised in are more ethical.

Industrial vegans value the animal’s life by not indulging in as much meat as people with regular diets do. Crouch raises the meat she consumes, sourcing protein from her ranch or another known source, confirming the animals had a good life.

Additionally, Crouch avoids dairy, cutting that out of her diet entirely. Industrial vegans can see an increase in energy and weight loss after limiting animal-based products in their daily lives. We don’t need animal protein in our bodies, so when we do eat it, we should know what it was fed and if it had as humane a death as possible.

Of course, this approach doesn’t apply to every vegan, and the beauty of veganism is that you can choose what you value and what you want to eat based on those preferences. Veganism places more importance on living a healthy, sustainable life, but you can create a unique definition that focuses on your physical and mental well-being.

While it might seem a little hypocritical to call yourself a vegan but still eat animal products, industrial vegans pride themselves on not consuming animals that were exposed to awful conditions their entire lives. It’s still debatable whether or not industrial vegans should have a category of their own.

Industrial vs. Regular Vegan

More and more people are converting to veganism. This diet and lifestyle have become extremely popular for ethical, environmental, and health reasons.

Regular vegans seek to exclude all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty. This avoidance means vomiting animal products and animal by-products from their diet. Veganism has a whole host of health benefits. It can help you drop pounds, keep blood sugar in check, and lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Furthermore, your heart will be healthier, and your likelihood to develop cancer lowers. Veganism helps with reducing symptoms of arthritis, poor kidney function, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Vegans don’t eat animal foods or ingredients that come from animals. These foods include:

- Fish and seafood

Meat and poultry

Dairy
Eggs
Bee products, such as honey
Animal-based ingredients

Animal-based products include items such as whey powder or, fish-derived omega-3 fatty acids.

That said, vegans have a wide variety of acceptable foods to choose from to get the proper nutrients, vitamins, and beneficial compounds. Vegans opt for fresh fruits, vegetables, or good-for-you foods that occur naturally with clean-label ingredients. For example, vegans can consume:

- Tofu
- Legumes
- Nuts and nut butter

Seeds

Plant-based milk or yogurt

Whole grains

Cereals

Fruits and vegetables

To summarize, the difference between an industrial vegan and a regular vegan is the inclusion of animal products and how they source said products.

Industrial vegans don’t support animal exploitation in factory farms and prefer to know the nature of where the protein originated. Industrial vegans continue to eat healthily, limit their animal products, and neglect dairy if they choose.

Things To Consider About Industrial Veganism

While veganism has countless health benefits, there are also risks. You must plan your diet accordingly and replace nutrient-rich food with equally nutritious alternatives. Those who follow a poor vegan diet are more likely to suffer from deficiencies if they don’t intake the proper vitamins and minerals their body needs to survive.

Some vegans lack appropriate amounts of the following:

Vitamin B12
Vitamin D
Iodine
Zinc
Long-chain omega-3 acids
Iron

Opt for plant foods with plenty of nutrients instead of heavily processed vegan foods. Some vegans take supplements to reach their daily recommended intake.

In this sense, industrial vegans have the edge because while they focus on a plant-based diet, they can indulge in animal products that provide enough of the above vitamins and minerals without sacrificing their ethical beliefs entirely.

Conclusion

Overall, the main difference between an industrial vegan and a regular vegan is that the former can choose to indulge in animal products as long as they know where they come from. Industrial vegans don’t eat heavily processed foods that they don’t know the origin of.

While it’s not a well-known term, industrial veganism may start to gain popularity as more people grow to respect this perspective of healthy eating. Not only does industrial veganism benefit your lifestyle, but it makes an impact on the environment by not supporting food raised on large, overcrowded farms.

After reading this article, hopefully, we answered the question of what is an industrial vegan. You now better understand the approach industrial vegans adopt to help their lifestyles and support the environment.

You can try out this diet if you have a small farm or continue on your established vegan diet. Regardless of how you approach veganism, the planet, your body and mind, and the animals will benefit.

References:

What is An “Industrial Vegan?” New Term Coined on ABC’s The Hustler Defined

The Vegan Diet: A Complete Guide for Beginners

The Hustler’s ‘industrial vegan’ isn’t a defined term, but should it be?

What Is An Industrial Vegan? – Video

What Is An Industrial Vegan?

About the author

Jason Hughes

"Hey there, I'm Jason, and you've just landed on the most exhilarating spot on the web - my VL universe! Here's the deal: I'm wildly obsessed (in the best way possible!) with all things diet, strength training, fitness, health, and wellness. It's not just a passion; it's a lifestyle!

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