The mainstreaming of vegan product development
18 Feb 2019 | The Vegan Society
The appeal of plant-based alternatives has widened far beyond the relatively small group of people who avoid animal products for ethical reasons, to the much larger group looking for healthier and cleaner foods. Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst at Biofach 2019, Head of Business Development for The Vegan Society says that: “We see a lot of vegan food items and cosmetics coming forward. The vegan supplements market is also one that is seeing a lot of growth and there are a lot of vegan-by-accident products that are appearing, such as cans of chickpeas and cans of tomato products. Things that you wouldn’t necessarily think that are vegan but they are now being marketed as such, giving them an extra edge.”
This is Rob Wis at the Bio Factory in Nuremberg, and I'm here with Chantelle Adkins from the Vegan Society.
Chantelle, there's obviously a big trend towards mainstreaming of, of veganism and a lot more vegan items coming onto the radar, and also quite a lot more who, who are going under your certification scheme.
But what, what does that involve and what are some of the things that are happening from that regard?
What, what are some of the new products that are getting your vegan logo?
Yeah, so, we're seeing, a big trend towards healthy products, , that are new to the market, a lot of, a lot of food items and a lot of cosmetics as.
I guess, supplements are really a big market that is growing in general, and there are a lot of vegan, There are a lot of vegan by accident products that are coming through, so, anybody that has got a product that they want to highlight as vegan, they're coming to us, which is really great.
What might be some examples of that then, or what are some of maybe the examples, I guess you're.
I guess like just your cupboard staples, like your cans of chickpeas or cans of tomatoes or things that you, wouldn't necessarily think were not vegan, but, but are.
Yeah, it gives it a bit of bit of an extra edge yeah, it it expands what non-vegans think vegans eat because probably more than, You might think, OK, very good.
What, what are some of the other things that are happening now because I think you particularly have quite a cooperation with Asda running at the moment.
Yeah, yeah, so they are doing an absolutely brilliant job of plowing through registrations with us.
Their aim is to have all of their, own brand products, taken through our registration process, which is great, and that, has kind of started, , with a couple of categories and, and we're really getting moving with that.
Probably gonna be a little while before we've got, all the food and beverages done, but they're making.
Yeah, like really great strides to to get everything that is vegan registered with us.
How far are they down this road, and what are some of the kind of the products that they're doing this for?
So they've got a lot of their food to go options, registered with us, kind of canned goods and dry foods, that's where they.
That's where they've started, their quick wins, as I would say, and , yeah, they've got also beers and wines coming up as , which is going to be an exciting launch.
What would be, speaking as a vegan, what would be some of your thoughts and comments for the food industry and the food ingredients industry as a whole and some of the wishes for the future, because obviously there's a lot of progress being made from this regard, but what I guess we've still got quite a while to go yet.
Yeah, I guess the first thing to say would be, swap out those animal ingredients that that are kind of got known alternatives.
So, there's a lot of beeswax used, and we know that there's a lot of stable synthetic versions that can be swapped out.
Having nice clean supply chains is always really easy for any certification or trademark scheme to work with.
Know where, know where your products are coming from, know where, they're kind of coming in and then you've got a kind of clean run at a certification rather than a.
Kind of having to dig through your dig through your work and your supply chain, traceability is obviously very important, so important, yeah, OK, for any kind of registration.
OK, and that's, that's something obviously you look at very thoroughly when you're when you're seeing these, these applications.
Yeah, certainly, so we go all the way down to the raw materials in an ingredient, so, , good lines of communication with your suppliers is really important, , to be able to get it done quickly.
Are you confident that veganism is, is more than just a trend right now?
We're pretty confident, yeah, yeah, we, we think that there's.
We embrace that it's a trend, but we think it's a trend that's here to stay, and, , a lot of, non-vegans are making moves towards, more ethical choices, so we hope that they will continue to pick up vegan products even if they are not living a full vegan lifestyle which will, keep the trend buzzing and alive.
Chantelle, thank you very much.
