Germans like veggie sausages: Meatless appetite is growing "outstandingly"

In the Corona crisis, the sale of vegetarian and vegan foods is increasing strongly. Market observers speak of a breakthrough: meat alternatives are no longer niche products. All food manufacturers are picking up on the trend.

The appetite for meat-free delicacies is growing: The sausage manufacturer Rügenwalder Mühle from Bad Zwischenahn in Lower Saxony has seen sales increases of up to 100 percent for its meat-free alternative products in recent months. The competitor Wiesenhof from Visbek bei Vechta also states that the market for vegetarian and vegan products is growing excellently this year. "The Bruzzler Veggie, for example, is clearly in the plus compared to the previous year with over 44 percent sales growth," says a spokeswoman. The Swiss food company Nestlé also increased its sales of plant-based products by 40 percent in the first half of 2020.

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(Photo: imago images / Levine-Roberts)

Plant-based foods already recorded strong growth in 2018 and 2019, according to a study by the FAIRR-Initiative investor network presented last year. As a result, meat alternatives have so far only made up a small share of global sales, but they are growing faster than the conventional meat sector: this recently increased by six percent, the meat-free alternatives by 25 percent last year.

The largest veggie market in Germany so far is the plant-based milk alternatives, says the communication manager of the Proveg association, Alex Grömminger. This is estimated at around 10 percent, with a strong upward trend. The market share of vegetable sausage and meat alternatives is still lower. "In the coming years, this market will continue to grow strongly with double-digit growth rates in the middle range," estimates Grömminger.

"Insane Growth"

Meatless burgers or vegan sausages are no longer niche products, but have reached the masses of consumers. All studies assumed that 10 to 40 percent of animal products will be replaced by alternative protein sources, says Godo Röben, member of the management team at Rügenwalder Mühle: "There is now an incredible growth. And there is no food manufacturer who does not address the issue picks up. " Every supplier and every machine manufacturer adjust to this market change.

The German spice market leader Fuchs is also reacting to this trend. The Dissen-based company offers customers from the industrial sector a "VeggieFox Range", said a spokeswoman – this includes seasonings and texturates for the production of vegan meat substitutes. But the company has also adjusted to the noticeably increased demand from private customers.

From the point of view of the Association for Alternative Protein Sources (Balpro), an interest group for around 70 companies from the food industry, politics must now set the course. Because it is desirable that the value chain is regionalized as strongly as possible, says Balpro board member Sebastian Biedermann. "We must also enable the cultivation of protein crops here so that the whole thing is also efficient and ecologically possible." For example, the cultivation of soy still only plays a minor role in Germany.

Soy from our own production

In the future, Rügenwalder Mühle wants to focus more on regional production for soy cultivation, says the chairman of the management, Michael Hähnel. Since this spring, the company has been growing its own soy in Germany with a partner. After the harvest in September it will be refined and used in vegetarian and vegan products. If the pilot project is successful, the plan is to cover ten percent of the soy requirement from domestic production in the next year and to increase this proportion continuously.

The boom in plant-based foods is likely to have several reasons. The climate debate plays a role, as does the recent discussion about working conditions in the meat industry, says Christian Vagedes from the Vegan Society Germany: "Meat and other factory farming products damage the climate; at 18 percent, it is significantly more than all road and air traffic."

Where is the eco-score?

The Corona crisis also made people think, says Proveg spokesman Grömminger: "There is now an indisputable connection between our food system and the risk of pandemics as we are currently experiencing."

In order to really achieve more sustainability in food production, the industry would have to go further, demands Balpro chairman Biedermann. The increasing digitization should be used to give consumers more information about the production chains: "If we're talking about a Nutri-Score, why not also an Eco-Score?" It would be desirable if the consumer were told clearly on the packaging how much carbon dioxide or how much water was used to produce the food. Politicians must ensure that the entire supply chain from the farmer to the food factory becomes more transparent in this regard.

. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Vegan Diet (t) Vegetarian Diet (t) Meat (t) Meat Industry (t) Food (t) Food Industry (t) Organic Food (t) Soy