Tesco is claiming to have become the first grocery retailer in the UK to set a sales target for plant-based meat alternatives as part of moves to lessen the environmental impact of food production.
The supermarket group has committed to a 300% rise in sales of meat alternatives by 2025 as part of a wider package of sustainability measures developed with conservation organization the World Wide Fund (WWF). The measures are included in the partnership’s previously-launched ‘Sustainable Basket Metric’ that aim to halve the environmental impact of the average UK shopping basket.
To achieve the plant-based sales target, Tesco said it plans to expand its meat alternative ranges across all its stores, with products covering 20 different categories including ready meals, sausages, burgers, quiches, pies, and party food. The retailer has been growing its plant-based range over the last few years with its own brands such as Wicked Kitchen and Plant Chef.
Tesco stated that it wanted to work with suppliers to bring new innovations to the market, whilst stressing that it wanted to ensure affordability was not a barrier to buying plant-based meat alternatives.
The retailer also plans to enhance the visibility of plant-based lines by providing a meat alternative where a meat version is featured. It gave the example of Richmond sausages and Richmond plant-based sausages being located together.
Tesco has committed to publishing the sales of plant-based proteins as a percentage of overall protein sales every year to track its progress.
CEO Dave Lewis commented: “We know from our experience in tackling food waste that transparency and setting ambitious targets are the first steps towards becoming a more sustainable business. Our transparency on protein sales and our new sales target for meat alternatives gives us the platform to becoming more sustainable and will provide customers with even more choice.
“These measures are just part of the work we’re doing with WWF, bringing together for the first time a host of sustainability metrics to help us halve the environmental impact of food production.
“We can’t accomplish the transformational change needed for a truly sustainable food system on our own, so we’re calling on the whole industry to play its role, starting with increased transparency on its sustainability impacts. We also call on the government to do more by helping to scale up innovations and create a level playing field to ensure companies drive sustainability in their supply chains.”
Tesco and WWF launched the Sustainable Basket Metric in 2019. So far, the retailer has achieved 11% of its target to halve the environmental impact of the average shopping basket. The Metric measures environmental impacts of food across seven different categories: climate change; deforestation; sustainable diets; sustainable agriculture; marine sustainability; food waste; and packaging waste.
