Fast food chain McDonald’s have sold over 150,000 McVegan burgers in their Finnish and Swedish restaurants. The burger was trialed in Finland in October 2017, before becoming available in multiple branches in Finland and Sweden.
In January alone, the sales have exceeded expectation, with the creators of the burger believing that the driving force behind these sales is the consumer demand for more plant based foods.
The burger was made in collaboration with Orkla Foods, a Nordic food producer who are expanding their meat-free ranges to answer to the need for healthier, plant based options. Speaking to Food Navigator, Orkla CEO Peter Ruzicka said: “People want to eat more plant-based food, partly because of health reasons, but also because of environmental reasons.
“Less climate impact than a regular burger made of meat… And this has received a lot of attention worldwide. This is a trend, of course, not only in the Nordics.”
This comes with the news that there has been 451 per cent increase in vegan meat products across Europe since 2013. Research from the TRansition paths to sUstainable legume-based systems in Europe (TRUE), has found this research by looking at vegan meats and proteins.
The lead author of the report, Carla Teixeira said: “The product subcategories with the highest increment were Meat Substitutes, with an amazing growth rate of 451%, pasta with an increase of 295% and bean-based snacks growing by 128%.”
Other product groups such legume-based items such as houmous or snacks made with lentils or soya beans have increased by 39 per cent.
The UK was the most active region in this market growth with a 19 per cent increase of new legume-based products in Europe, and France followed behind at 14 per cent, and Germany at 13 per cent. The report notices that the quantity of different products being launched is key to the growth, with the researchers saying that over 27,000 legume-based products were launched in the 2013-2017 period.