From Monday 8th April, larger Tesco stores will be offering vegan alternatives in the meat aisles in a new fixture where customers will find both next to each other.
The move comes as Tesco says it believe more Brits are reducing their meat consumption, either turning to a vegan or vegetarian diet, or becoming flexitarian.
However, the statement was challenged by figures revealed in January’s Kantar market research, showing that overall volumes for meat, fish and poultry had not fallen.
The latest Kantar report suggested that there was limited evidence of us becoming a nation of vegetarians and vegans, with only beef, lamb and turkey seeing volume declines over the January period.
Derek Sarno, Tesco’s director of Plant-Based Innovation said: “We are seeing a new kind of shopper - more conscious of their own health and the environment, and perfectly happy to make dietary changes such as becoming vegan, vegetarian or flexitarian to achieve those aims.
“Plant-based alternatives in general have become so high in quality that most life-long meat eaters are now including these foods as part of their diet. It makes sense to range them next to each other in the same aisle and bring a wider breadth of options available to choose from.”
Included in the new fixture will be vegan and vegetarian food products by names such as Heck, Vivaris, Beyond Meat and the Vegetarian Butcher.
Health impact
Tesco say it believes the single biggest impact it can make in promoting health and sustainability in the next decade is through taste, by encouraging shoppers to enjoy a diet of eating more vegetables, less meat and more plant-based alternatives.
Editor of Meat Management magazine, Graham Yandell commented: “This seems to me another knee jerk reaction by retailers. By all means offer these products, but why do they have to be near or in the meat cabinet – they are not meat.
“As for saying ‘most life-long meat eaters are now including these foods as part of their diet’, I simply do not know what this claim is based on. I and many others would challenge that assumption.
“Will we now also see meat displayed with vegetables at Tesco?
"The simple fact is that vegetarian and vegan trends are still minimal and transient. The percentage of consumers who are true vegans is small. It all goes to prove that food is fashion these days and as for health, the argument that cutting a balanced diet and removing meat is deeply suspect and actually can be very dangerous to health.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
