“Climate-conscious” pizza slices up sustainability scores on the label

08 Mar 2021 --- Germany-based food supplier Veganz is bringing its climate-conscious pizzas to the Australian market, which “lay all the facts on the table.”

This debut underscores just how important transparency and the environmental impact of food is to consumers and demonstrates how brands want to communicate carbon emission credentials to the market.

The brand is positioned as the first vegan frozen pizza with a sustainability score on pack, revealing the product’s CO2 emissions, water use, animal welfare and rainforest protection credentials.

“This is a huge step forward within our industry, which is very much in need of transparency and more sustainability,” says Jan Bredack, CEO and founder of Veganz.

Pizza rollout
Veganz expansion to Australia comes following an established presence in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. 

The Veganz Pizza Verdura will be sold in 180 Woolworths stores, beginning in New South Wales and Victoria. 

“It’s great to see how the increasing demand for plant-based products is driving rapid changes in Australia, and we are very excited to partner with Woolworths, who will offer our top-selling vegan veggie pizza Verdura in their frozen pizza range,” states Anna Brandt, Veganz’ country manager Australia-Oceania.

In addition to Woolworths, the Veganz pizzas will be available at the Vegan Grocery Store online and its brick-and-mortar store in Sydney and Melbourne. 

Veganz pizza is “Italian in taste, vegan in recipe and sustainable in terms of agriculture, production, packaging and transport.”Veganism rising down under
Veganz notes that Australia has great potential for the plant-based brand, due to its plant-forward consumer trends. 

According to the company, around 2 percent of the Australian population followed a vegan diet in 2019 and around 12 percent were vegetarian. 

A Google Trends analysis by the Australian food blog Chef’s Pencil has also shown that Australia is the world’s second most popular country for vegans after the UK. 

Almost 9 percent of new products in Australia are vegan and do not contain any animal-derived ingredients.

Transparency triumphs
Veganz’s sustainability score is the fruit of a partnership with the Eaternity Institute in Switzerland, which developed the “Eaternity Score.” 

The company notes that one of the main reasons for a vegan or vegetarian diet is climate consciousness. 

Therefore, making the climate impact more visible is an important step to bring more transparency to consumers. 

The score uses a three-star ranking system to give consumers an indication of a product’s climate impact at a glance. 

With the Eaternity label, Veganz aims to set a new industry standard for sustainability and transparency. 

Consumers are increasingly searching for more information surrounding how their products are sourced and created. 

This was spotlighted in Innova Market Insights number one Top Ten Trend for 2021: “Transparency Triumphs.”

Plant-based proliferates
Greenleaf Foods’ brand Field Roast recently launched “the first plant-based pepperoni made from pea protein” – not soy – to meet the growing demand for indulgent meat analogs.

Last January, the Pizza Plant, headquartered in California, US, debuted the “world’s first” CBD-infused, plant-based pizza in Whole Foods Markets. 

Multinationals are making further moves in vegan innovation, such as Nestlé, who recently revealed a vegan KitKat and plant-based lattes in Japan. 

Edited by Missy Green