Costco Shoppers Have Mixed Feelings About These Vegan Breakfast Sandwiches

Yesterday, the Costco Deals Instagram account highlighted the newly available Alpha Foods plant-based meatless "sausage" breakfast sandwich with "cheeze" and "egg" included. The sandwiches are reportedly found in Costco warehouses in Los Angeles and the South Eastern portion of the United States, including Puerto Rico and Mississippi. Each box contains 6 patties and sells roughly for $12.99 to $13.99. The box also proudly bears the fact that each sandwich contains 17 grams of proteins and 3 grams of fiber.

While a few shoppers exclaimed in excitement over the name breakfast sandwiches, most worried over the nutritional contents not boasted by the box. Namely, the sodium content of 780 mg and the carbohydrate count of 39 grams per sandwich. "Vegan and plant based doesn't mean that the food is healthy," one Instagrammer warned. For most, that sodium level is too worrying high, especially when you consider that the upper limit of what you should allow yourself to consume in one day is, according to the American Heart Association, 2,300 milligrams and the more ideal limit is 1,500 milligrams.

Despite the image of vegan and vegetarian diet plans being health-conscious, all that these labels mean is that animals are no longer at the forefront of the food. Oreos, for example, are vegan junk food. So, heavily processed vegan foods will still be less nutritious, just like heavily processed non-vegan foods. Healthline calls this group "junk-food vegans."

However, Veganlifz does offer a good way to view the range of not particularly nutritious products. Namely, that vegan meats are both healthier than processed meats and that they serve as a good stepping stone for the more carnivorous into veganism. Still, if you eat too many Alpha foods sandwiches, you'll still be getting more than you may have asked for. "I couldn't eat these because of the sodium content," as one Costco shopper replied on Instagram. 

But if you consume the sandwiches in a more moderate manner and supplement them with a rounded diet of vegetables, fruits, and legumes, then unless you suffer from a specific sodium issue, you probably do not need to freak out over the admittedly overly high sodium in the sandwich.