Update January 2015:

Yes! IKEA representatives have confirmed that they will be selling vegan 'meat balls' in store from April this year. A HUGE thank you to everyone who signed our petition and contacted the chain.

Their global Sustainability and Health Manager told Viva!: "IKEA wants to offer healthy food choices that are delicious, sustainable and affordable for the many people, based on the IKEA Swedish identity. IKEA Food is currently developing the food range to provide options that meet the many different preferences of our customers. One of the exciting new products is a Veggie ball which will be launched in our stores from April and onwards. The veggie ball does not have any animal content and is therefore also suitable for vegans."

They also told us that they: "... will also communicate both environmental and health benefits with the product."

IKEA have told us that they will be initially available in the restaurant, but will then be for sale in their food hall (probably in the frozen section) at a later date.

Again, thank you for helping make this possible. It just goes to show that petitions do work! If you would like to congratulate IKEA you can send them an email.

Update July 2014:

Steve Howard Chief Sustainability Officer of the IKEA Group has responded positively to our suggestions about vegan 'meat balls'.

He told us: "Many thanks for writing and for the encouragement from your web petition. I have shared this with my colleagues in IKEA Food and Anders Lennartsson our Food Sustainability manager."

He goes onto say that they are looking into all options - including vegan ones. Nothing concrete yet, but very encouraging!

Thank you to everyone who signed the Viva! petition that made IKEA sit up and take notice.

It worked!!!

Why?

The furniture giant serves a staggering 150 million meatballs a year. This represents a gigantic carbon foot print – not to mention the slaughter and suffering of a huge numbers of animals. To try and go some way to atone for this, IKEA have suggested that they are looking to introduce a vegetarian version in 2015. However, they have suggested that if there is enough demand they could make this alternative 100 per cent vegan.

Going vegan is good for the planet, animals and us. Urge IKEA to take their environmental commitments seriously by introducing a vegan 'meatball' at their stores worldwide

This is a great opportunity to get vegan food available at a worldwide retailer. Brilliant for vegans and a great introduction to cruelty-free food for the millions of shoppers who pass through their doors every year.

Why vegan?

Vegan foods have a much lower carbon footprint than meat and even vegetarian ones. Vegan foods – free from meat, egg and dairy – also cause less suffering to animals and are healthier without sacrificing taste.

Simply stated, a vegan ‘meatball’ can be enjoyed by all.

The massive rise in interest in recent years of vegan foods is unprecedented: Germany has around a million vegans now, the UK is moving towards those figures and even chains like Ocado stock an increasingly large range of vegan meat alternatives as does 3663, one of the UK’s largest food wholesalers. Brands like V-Bites and Fry’s (and even some of the Linda McCartney range) lead the way in quality and taste. In mainland Europe, Wheaty’s, Vegusto and other amazing products are 100 per cent plant based. The movement is growing rapidly.

So it’s clear that a vegan ‘meatball’ is doable without egg/dairy by-products. Even Quorn managed to produce a vegan burger for the US market and vegans in the UK hope they will roll it out here too soon.

If IKEA embrace the idea then many other retailers may follow suit. That is why it is so great that IKEA have confirmed they will introduce a 'meat ball' everyone can eat!

Read more about the negative environmental impact of meat, eggs and dairy

Find out why the egg and dairy industries cause suffering for millions of animals

Read about the health benefits of a vegan diet

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