Britain’s largest supermarket, Tesco, has announced that it will be stocking plant-based meat alternatives next to animal meat in stores.
The retailer had announced it would stock the Beyond Meat burger alongside beef burger patties, in line with the brand’s requirements which see it stocked with meat in the US.
However, the new plans will see other brands, such as The Vegetarian Butcher sit alongside meat in efforts to encourage more people to eat plant-based food and follow a flexitarian diet.
Vegetarian and vegan food products are typically kept separate to animal meat, and while this works for consumers that have already made the decision to stop eating animal products, it often restricts it to this consumer demographic.
By putting meat alternatives in the same aisles that large numbers of consumers currently shop down, it opens their eyes to the options and to the rest of products on offer.
“From Monday, flexitarians, who eat both meat and plant-based alternatives, will be able to find both next to each other in a new fixture in the meat aisle at larger Tesco stores,” according to a statement from a Tesco spokesperson.
Director of plant-based innovation at Tesco, Derek Sarno, said: “We are seeing a new kind of shopper – more conscious of their own health and the environment and perfectly happy to make dietary changes, such as becoming vegan, vegetarian or flexitarian to achieve those aims.”
He added: “Plant-based alternatives in general have become so high in quality that most life-long meat-eaters are now including these foods as part of their diet. It makes sense to range them next to each other in the same aisle and bring a wider breadth of options available to choose from.”
“The rise of eating more plant-based food and people becoming flexitarian is having a massive effect on the way many people shop […] the retail industry is having to adapt.”