UK global innovation leader for vegan food launches

"Plant" awards gain ground

26-Jan-2022 - Germany

According to a new study by market research company Mintel, Germany is the fourth most innovative country worldwide for vegan food launches in 2021. The global innovation leader, however, is the United Kingdom: 24 percent of vegan food products were launched there last year, followed by Portugal with 21.5 percent and the Netherlands with 19.1 percent. Germany ranks fourth with 18.7 percent and Austria fifth worldwide with 16.9 percent.[1]

Photo by Cocobols on Unsplash

Valentin Thies, Senior Food and Drink Analyst at Mintel Germany, explains:

"The adoption of vegan food has reached the mainstream market after years of growth. In Germany, just under one in five food introductions is currently vegan, yet only a small fraction of 1.2 percent of consumers[2] in Germany declare themselves vegan. The challenge for many brands remains to project a more inclusive image and appeal to a broader audience with their products, which includes flexitarians.

The key is to choose an approach that does not judge or value meat consumption. One option would be to position products as "plant-based" rather than obviously advertising them as "vegan." This way, health and ethical attributes such as "good for me, good for the planet" can continue to be promoted without discouraging non-vegans. In fact, "plant-based/plant-based" claims have grown rapidly in German food launches, from 1.3 percent in 2019 to 2 percent of launches in 2020. This trend will continue this year: in 2021, the share of "plant-based" innovations was 3.1 percent."

In terms of food launches in 2021, Denmark led the way with 7.5 percent, followed by Chile (7.1 percent of all food launches in 2021), New Zealand (6.4 percent), Portugal (6 percent), the Netherlands (5.5 percent) and Canada (5.4 percent). In the U.S., 4.9 percent of all food introductions were labeled plant/vegetable-based, 4.8 percent in the U.K., and only 3.1 percent in Germany.[3]

[1]Mintel GNPD (Global New Product Database), global food launches with vegan claims per country, January to December 2021.

[2 ]Based on 2,000 internet users over 16, August 2021.

[3]Mintel GNPD (Global New Product Database), global food launches with "plant-based/vegan" claims per country, January to December 2021.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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