With January over and a new month in swing, it has been interesting over the past week to see companies across the food and beverage industry reporting back on their experiences with Veganuary.
For those who may not know, “Veganuary” is a game-changing campaign founded by British businessman and animal rights activist, Matthew Glover. The event takes place every January, with the aim of inspiring as many people as possible to try their hand at a vegan diet.
Year after year, Veganuary proves to be a hugely successful campaign. And this year is no exception. With over 600,000 people pledging to go Vegan for the month, 2022 is officially the campaign’s biggest year to date.
After a huge influx of people signing up for Veganuary, a number of retailers have credited the movement for increasing their plant based food sales.
Major UK retailer Tesco is celebrating the recent boom in plant-based sales, after their new plant-based meal deal flew off of shelves. The grocery store also credited “Dry January” another new-year campaign for increasing their no and low alcohol products.
Tesco were particularly blown away by the popularity of vegan pasta and vegetable soups, which increased in sales by a whopping 140%. While their milk-alternative drink sales drove up by over 100%.
“The Wicked Kitchen Meal Deal, which is an amazing offer for folks that want to try plant-based for the first time, launched this Veganuary and is testament to that.” said Tesco’s head of plant-based food innovation, Derek Sarno.
Just a few examples of the major effects this Veganuary has had on food and drink retail across the UK.
Not only did January see such a major rise in the sale of plant-based produce, but it has also been reported that almost 35% of Brits are interested in trying a plant-based diet.
A number that could definitely rise in coming years if more time and effort is put into educating the nation about the benefits of veganism not just for themselves, but for animals, and for battling the climate crisis.
Not ready to commit to a vegan diet? In our Meatless More-days story, we discussed the idea of quotas on meat eating in the UK, as a way to limit the meat that is put on our plates. Which in turn would limit the emissions being released into the atmosphere.
We, of course, understand that such quotas are a difficult resolution to enforce. However, with January showing the huge interest that exists in reducing the amount of animal products being consumed, it is hoped that the government may introduce similar guidelines in regard to meat eating.
After making a number of commitments to combat the ever warming climate at last year’s COP26 conference, including those that could improve animal welfare, the UK is waiting in bated breath to see results.
But, with results of this caliber taking years to show, we can for now hope that Veganuary 2022 will at least inspire other individuals to make a positive change to their diets.
Chloe Rose
New Food News
Leave a Reply