Vegetarian foods increase

For many a vegetarian meal means not eating meat. However, to some it means eating white meat and not red. Then there is vegan and what it means to people.

As a simple explanation from this vegetarian, a vego diet is one that does not include any meat at all, but may include dairy and egg. This is called ovo-lacto vegetarianism. To people like me, a person who eats any meat, including the white meats is not a true vegetarian.

A vegan is a person who eats absolutely no animal products at all, and that may include honey as it is produced by “animals”.

Ok, so now we have some basic idea about what vegetarian and vegan mean, it has been found in research done by global market research organisation Mintel, that the number of food and drink launches which have made a vegetarian claim is up by 12 percent since 2009. This obviously means that more people are choosing a completely or partly vegetarian diet.

In 2013, two percent of all food and drink launches across the world carried a vegetarian claim, so there must be a market for it.
The research was done in the UK, and found that around 12 percent of adults were either vegetarian or vegan and that in the 16-24 year age group, this number rises to 20 percent.

It is obvious from these numbers that restaurants and cafes must now be offering a vegetarian alternative as a minimum or they will be losing trade.

Mintel forecasts that in the UK, the meat free market in 2014 will be worth £657 million, which is a rise of £543 million since 2009.
People generally see vegetarian food as being healthy and environmentally friendly, so it’s popularity is almost certain to increase. The problem is that sometimes people choose to be vegetarian and do not balance their diet to ensure that they get enough good quality protein.

So many people are now choosing instead to adopt a “flexitarianism” diet, which means they consume primarily vegetarian with small amounts of meat throughout a week.

Laura Jones, Global Food Science Analyst at Mintel, said “Indeed, many meat-reducing consumers have adopted a flexible attitude, choosing to limit meat, rather than eliminate it entirely. Launches of vegetarian and vegan products echo manufacturers desire to communicate the suitability of their products to the widest range of consumers.”

Written by Rachelle Williams, The Green Food Safety Coach.