Lidl Belgium has revealed it has lowered the price of its own-brand vegan foods in a bid to promote sustainable food choices.
According to reports, the budget supermarket chain has matched the cost of its plant-based protein products to traditional meat in its efforts to encourage conscious consumer purchases.
The news follows polling which revealed that well over a third (42 per cent) of Belgians said they would buy more vegan or vegetarian products if they were less expensive.
Some half of those polled, 49 per cent, believed meat alternatives are more costly than their animal-based counterparts.
This polling was commissioned by Lidl Belgium and carried out by iVox.
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Lidl Belgium promotes sustainability
According to Ines Verschaeve, project manager for CSR and purchasing at Lidl Belgium: “Proteins are essential for our well-being, whether they are of animal or vegetable origin. Vegetable proteins have a positive impact on both people and the environment.
“By lowering the prices of the plant-based alternatives to the same level as the animal variant, we want the customer to be able to make the choice for a plant-based alternative more easily.”
The move has been praised by international food awareness organisation ProVeg.
The news follows polling which revealed that well over a third (42 per cent) of Belgians said they would buy more vegan or vegetarian products if they were less expensive. Photo © Studio Porto Sabbia via Adobe Stock
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Fien Louwagie, team lead communications and public relations at ProVeg, said: “We know that the price difference, or the perception thereof, is one of the barriers to choosing plant-based more often.
“By eliminating this and fully focusing on a more extensive range and involving customers in this story, Lidl is taking responsibility as a retailer. We hope that this will encourage others to make clear choices in this regard.”
Creating more veggie options
The retailers in-house veggie and vegan range (bundled by Vemondo) currently includes 23 products.
In addition to lowering the prices of its plant protein, Lidl Belgium is also planning to expand its meat-free offering.
It says that by 2030, it will increase its share of vegetable protein products to 20 per cent and its share of dairy alternative products to 10 per cent.
These new items, including legumes, seeds and vegan options will be offered in place of traditional meat, eggs and fish.
To work out the percentage share of veggie and animal proteins, the retailer says it used a methodology developed by the WWF to analyse all its food items to determine the vegetable protein content per kilogram. It now plans to pass this information on to consumers.
The price reductions were rolled out from May 15.
It doesn’t have to be expensive to start incorporating more plant-based protein into your diet. Try these budget-friendly cheap vegan meals
Featured photo © monticellllo via Adobe Stock
