Three global organizations, ProVeg International, WWF and the Green Protein Allianceare calling on retailers to target a 60% plant-based and 40% animal protein split in sales to support healthy, sustainable diets that are consistent with the Planetary Health Diet von EAT-Lancet match.
The Planetary Health Diet suggests that the split between plant and animal foods should be 70% plant to 30% animal when including all food groups, and 60% plant to 40% animal when focusing only on foods with protein sources, including meat, eggs, fish and legumes.
The organizations highlight retailers as “critical” to enabling societies to transition to sustainable diets and setting industry standards for measuring and achieving balanced protein intake. They encourage retailers to track progress toward these protein split goals to encourage a broader shift toward plant-based consumption.
The call comes after Lidl this week became the first retailer in the UK to set a protein sharing target: 25% of its total protein sales must be plant-based by 2030. The supermarket chain has also committed to doubling the share of plant protein sales from dairy alternatives over the same period.
Mariella Meyer, Senior Manager of Sustainable Markets at WWF, comments: “In countries where animal-based foods are over-consumed, grocers can lead the way by reorienting their product offerings. We want to work with retailers and companies to enable the transition to a more sustainable and healthy diet.”
© ProVeg International
Tracking protein sales
According to ProVeg International, consumer dietary preferences are shifting towards a plant-based diet, with significant percentages of people in Germany (59%), France (57%) and the UK (48%) reducing their meat consumption, as one ProVeg company report shows.
Following these consumer trends, many retailers have reset their protein sales targets and 90% of Dutch food retailers already track their protein distribution using the “Protein Tracker” method, a tool developed by the Green Protein Alliance and ProVeg Netherlands.
Protein Tracker data helps retailers develop targeted strategies to shift the balance of protein sales within a specific time frame. Dutch retailer Jumbo, for example, is aiming for a 50/50 split of protein sales by 2025 by ending promotions of animal meat products and thus encouraging the purchase of plant-based products. At the same time, Lidl Netherlands is experimenting with placing plant-based meat on traditional meat shelves and lowering the prices of plant-based dairy products to meet its 60/40 target by 2030.
In the UK, retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Coop, M&S, Lidl and Aldi, which represent over 80% of major UK supermarkets, use the ‘WWF shopping basket’ method to record sales of protein source foods. Retailers in Belgium, Germany and Austria have adopted similar methods to track their protein distribution goals, according to ProVeg.
Joanna Trewern, Director of Partnerships at ProVeg International, said: “Retailers play a crucial role in ensuring society transitions to healthy and sustainable diets. Adopting a standardized approach to measuring protein breakdown will pave the way for a comprehensive understanding of the shift toward healthier, more sustainable food systems. That’s why ProVeg International, WWF and the Green Protein Alliance are working together to enable food companies to track animal and plant-based food sales and measure progress toward protein sharing goals.”
© ProVeg International
Protein transition for a healthy planet
Shifting to a more plant-based diet could bring significant public health and animal welfare benefits and significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, particularly in high-income countries that are the largest meat and dairy consumers.
Animal farming plays a significant role as it produces large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These emissions fuel climate change, while animal agriculture damages the environment through excessive land use, which is one of the main reasons for biodiversity loss.
Jeroen Willemsen, founder of the Dutch Green Protein Alliance, comments: “Setting goals and tracking progress has proven effective in the switch to plant-based proteins in the Netherlands. The Green Protein Alliance and ProVeg Netherlands support retailers in implementing effective measures in various product categories. This is a call to action for other food companies to do the same.”
Further information: worldwildlife.org, greenproteinalliance.nl/english and proveg.com/de
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