Capitalism

More Animal Lives Saved By Putting Vegan Products Alongside Meat and Dairy

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More plant-based meat is sold when located alongside animal-based meat. This is where meat-eaters will find it (when they're looking for 'meat').

Consumers looking for vegan plant-based products have traditionally been directed to specialty section of a store, designated as organic, healthy or natural. This worked for those actively seeking plant-based purchases.

However, the market dynamic is changing, as companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods offering vegan and plant-based burgers, sausages and other alternatives to animal-based food products are actively encouraging retailers to sell and promote their range in the meat case, or alongside meat products in the frozen section.

Beyond Meat, whose investors include Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio, has even gone so far as to refuse to sell its Beyond Burger to retailers unless they agree to place it in the meat case, reports Forbes. â€œWe made a rule that if they werenâ€™t going to put it in the meat case, we werenâ€™t going to sell it to them,â€ explains founder Ethan Brown. â€œIf they put it in the meat case, they can also put it wherever else theyâ€™d like but it definitely has to go in the meat case.â€

The strategy is working. Retail outlets are confirming that the sale of plant-based products increases when placed in the same vicinity as people shopping for meat from animals. This has a huge potential for saving the lives of millions of animals.

Research and experience shows that integrating plant-based products helps more animals, according to Animals Australia. Here are three examples.



One of the largest retailers in the US found over a 5 week period in 2018, the Beyond Burger was the number-one-selling beef patty in the meat case, Forbes reported.

When Costco placed organic plant-based patties in their meat section, and sold more than a million burgers in less than 60 days.

UK food and coffee chain, Pret, "noticed that more customers actually choose veggie options when they are clearly labelled and integrated with meaty items, rather than segregated in a separate fridge."

The animal-based food industry is feeling the heat from lost market share as demand for plant-based alternatives grow whether it be for for ethical, environment or health reasons. A growing number of US states have been passing laws saying that only foods made of animal flesh should be allowed to carry labels like "meat," "sausage," "jerky," "burger" or "hot dog." The National Cattlemen's Beef Association is battling "false and deceptive marketing" of what the group calls simply "fake meat." wants to "level the playing field for real beef products".

Pushback from the meat industry is happening in the EU also with the European Parliament passing a proposal, earlier this year, that would prevent nonmeat products from bearing labels associated with meat, including steak, sausage, escalope, burger and hamburger.