UK vegan snack brand Native Snacks has announced the launch of its vegan prawn crackers - the world's first of its kind.

The new Pr*wn Crackers are available in two flavours – original prawn and sweet chilli. They are crustacean-free and gluten-free, they contain no eggs and no dairy.

The crackers contain less than 99 calories per serving.

Prawn farming which is particularly popular in Asia produces four times more CO2 than beef. Additionally, 38% of global mangroves and seagrasses have been destroyed by prawn farms. This is an equivalent of 2 football fields every hour.

Seagrasses are flowering plants that live in shallow sheltered areas in the coast creating underwater gardens that are full of life and offer natural habitat for different kind of fish and prawns. Seagrass absorbs 35 times more carbon than the rainforest.

Native Snacks donates 1p from every package of prawn-free crackers sold to Project Seagrass - a charity working on conservation of seagrass ecosystems.

The brand says it would save 2,226MT CO2e and 460,000 prawns for every 100,000 bags of Pr*wn Crackers sold.

Charlie and Darcy, the founders of Native Snacks, explained to us why they decided to launch vegan prawn snacks.

They said: “We were shocked to hear that the farming of prawns produces more Co2 than beef per kg. We wanted to create an easy like-for-like swap for such an iconic snack for vegans and non-vegans alike to enjoy. We loved eating prawn crackers as kids and no Friday night takeaway felt right without a bag.”

They added: “We always had some friends who couldn’t eat them due to being veggie or vegan. As well as creating something that tasted delicious, it also had to work from an ethical standpoint too. We knew from looking at the many vegan Instagram accounts that we follow – many who have posted about wanting to find a ‘prawn’ cracker – that the demand was there.”

Native Snacks prawn crackers will be available at The Vegan Kind from October, priced at £1.85 for a 60g sharing bag.