Lidl has announced plans to reduce its animal-based products in a company-wide push for sustainability.
Vegan alternatives are expected to slowly replace animal-based products on the German budget retailer’s shelves. This is in line with Lidl’s commitment to vastly increase its plant-based range through 2025 and beyond.
The motivation to make the switch towards alternative protein comes from an environmental standpoint. Specifically, Lidl identifies the need for food security for the increasing global population.
During Berlin’s Green Week, agri-food trade fair, Christoph Graf, chief buyer of Lidl, talked about the supermarket group’s future in the meatless industry. He reportedly said that there is ‘no alternative’ to reducing meat options in Lidl as there is ‘no second planet’.
Graf reportedly claimed this will allow people more access to cost-effective alternative proteins and should be treated as a positive decision.
Lidl’s own-brand plant-based range is called Vemendo and has increased to over 50 private label products since launching two years ago.
To support its decision to deprioritize animal products, Lidl plans to release a sustainability report later this year.
