Retail News|March 2021|www.retailnews.ie|25
Plant-Based Foods
Plant-powered profit Vegan options have become big business as environmental and health concerns drive consumers away from meat and dairy, with convenience options at the top of the menu. Morgan Stokes examines the trends and products to help you embrace the vegan revolution. VEGANUARY has been and gone, but plant-based diets seem to be here to stay; every year, more and more Irish consumers are making the decision to take meat and dairy off the menu. With our long tradition of beef and dairy farming, Ireland might seem an unlikely location for a high vegan population, but the statistics are surprising – a 2019 Chef’s Pencil surveys place us as the tenth highest vegan population in the world by capita. Not only that, but growing numbers of Irish people are adopting a ‘flexitarian’ diet – a 2018 National Dairy Council survey found that 41% of women and 30% of men are limiting their dairy consumption, and a 2020 report from the European Investment Bank found that 59% of Irish respondents were cutting down on their meat intake. Is meat-free the way of the future? Insider commenters like MCA and HIM’s Steve Gotham certainly seem to think so. “Vegetarianism and veganism will potentially become sufficiently normal practices that a tipping point will be reached whereby the tables are turned and meat dishes will become the versions that consumers have to opt-in for”, he claimed, writing about the future of Irish grocery this decade for Retail News last year. Major international market watchers tend to agree - Barclay’s predicts that the global market for plant-based ‘meat’ alternatives will hit €125 billion by 2030. There’s plenty of evidence to show that the food industry has not been slow to capitalise on the move to meat-free, from Irish supermarket chains stocking their own plant-based ranges to independent Dublin producer Vegan Sandwich Co. securing a high commendation from the Irish Quality Food Awards for their rapid growth in the middle of a pandemic. So what can Irish retailers stock to secure their place in the non-meat market?
Why consumers are making the change Animal-friendly fare has moved far beyond beans and nuts, and with such a large range of plant-based products hitting the market, it’s useful to examine the reasons for the uptick in plant-based diets when deciding how to stock the shelves. While traditionally vegans have abstained for animal welfare reasons, a growing number of vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians cite environmental concerns as their reason for making the switch. This is particularly true for those committed to eating less animal products, but not cutting them out entirely. It’s not exactly news that shoppers are citing sustainability as a driving factor behind their product choices; according to the EPA’s 2019 inventory data, 35% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, with 57% of this figure due to methane production from sheep and cattle herds. Since consumer concerns about climate change show no signs of abating, it’s unlikely that the plant-based trend is going anywhere any time soon. Comfort and convenience Bord Bia’s 2020 Dietary Lifestyles report, however, pointed out some challenges facing the vegan sector. Accessing food which delivers the right nutrients (iron, B12, fats, carbs and proteins) was the main barrier amongst those who would not consider following a vegan diet, as 29% believe it is not a healthy balanced/diet. There are also growing perceptions that plantbased foods can be too processed – 30% of consumers surveyed said meat free alternatives are overly processed. Affordability also remains a challenge, with 18% of those who have stopped vegan/vegetarian diets saying they did so because it was too expensive.
