Young people to lead ‘move towards veganism’

The UK can expect to see an ‘increasing move away from meat and fish products towards veganism’, mainly led by young people, according to research undertaken by market research company Canadean.
Tom Vierhile, innovation insights director at Canadean, told one business publication: “The UK is a potential market for things like that with younger consumers leading the way to pursue a plant-based diet. They are also more open to being vegan or vegetarian and pushing the market that way.”
This prediction follows last year’s polling commissioned by Vegan Life and The Vegan Society, which showed a massive 360 per cent growth in the number of vegans (aged 15 and over) in Great Britain over the last 10 years.
Some experts have predicted that the coming year could see veganism become more popular than vegetarianism, as more people become aware of unethical practices in the dairy and egg industries, as well as a growing concern about the carbon footprint of animal agriculture.
Tom Vierhile added: “Millennial consumers especially seem to be staging a bit of a Brexit of their own, by not going along with brands that their parents might have made icons, but are more inclined to seek out brands that resonate with them and their beliefs and are less inclined to follow their parents. Younger consumers are also more aware of where food and ingredients come from and are keenly interested in all that. It is almost like activist buying, where people try to make their money count in a socially-responsible way.”