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Biotech United Kingdom Science

Tesco, One of the World's Largest Supermarket Operators, Sets 300% Sales Target For Plant-Based Alternatives To Meat (theguardian.com) 126

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Tesco is to become the first UK retailer to set a sales target for plant-based alternatives to meat as it steps up efforts to offer shoppers more sustainable options. The UK's largest supermarket will on Tuesday commit to boosting sales of meat alternatives by 300% within five years, by 2025. Over the past year, demand for chilled meat-free foods -- the most popular line including burger, sausage and mince substitutes -- has increased by almost 50%, the retailer said. As a result, it is expanding into more categories and creating larger "centerpiece" dishes for two people as well as family-sized portions.

The target is part of a wider package of sustainability measures developed with its charity partner the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to try to halve the environmental impact of the average UK shopping basket. Dave Lewis, who steps down as Tesco chief executive on Wednesday, said: "We know from tackling food waste that transparency and ambitious targets are the first steps towards becoming a more sustainable business." Among 11 new plant-based foods going on sale at Tesco this week are centerpiece dishes using the wheat protein favorite seitan as a meat substitute, including a beef-free joint and hunter's chicken-free traybake. Turkey-free crowns and vegan mince pies are launching in time for Christmas.

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Tesco, One of the World's Largest Supermarket Operators, Sets 300% Sales Target For Plant-Based Alternatives To Meat

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  • 300% (Score:1, Troll)

    by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
    What they plan on selling 3 whole packages per month? Nobody likes that shit and the recent panic buying proves it. These "meat substitutes" were the only things left on the shelf.
    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      I suspect they either expect some kind of legislation, or its wishful thinking that relevant manufacturers will have large scale advertisement campaigns.

      Or it could be standard greenwashing PR. Results don't matter, because this campaign will be forgotten in a week.

      • meat is insanely expensive to produce. You just don't notice because it's also insanely heavily subsidized.

        These meat replacements are way the f*** more profitable than actual meat. They're dying to make them take off.
        • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

          It depends what they make it from. At the moment Lentils seem to be the go and upon a meat substitute basis, a lot can be done to improve Lentil genetics. Then you have the glaringly obvious which the vegans seem to absurdly oblivious to, the pushing of higher protein, lower carbohydrate versions of wheat, rice, potatoes and corn. They should have really been all over government to subsidise the development of those items, it should have been vegan goal number one, high protein potatoes.

          Of course the number

        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          Modern life is insanely expensive to produce. You just don't notice because it's also insanely heavily subsidized.

          Literally, everything about it.

          So?

        • meat is insanely expensive to produce. You just don't notice because it's also insanely heavily subsidized.

          I've heard this argument so many times, but I've never heard any compelling evidence to prove it. Just people repeating this statement over and over.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          Ironically all this 'plant based' crap is even more highly processed than just about anything else, and not cheap to produce either -- and not particularly healthy for various reasons.
        • by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot&worf,net> on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @02:14AM (#60556332)

          meat is insanely expensive to produce. You just don't notice because it's also insanely heavily subsidized.

          These meat replacements are way the f*** more profitable than actual meat. They're dying to make them take off.

          More accurately, meat is expensive because it consumes vast tracts of land, the conversion ratio is poor if you want beef, and it takes tons of water.

          Conversion ratio of chicken is about 1.7 to 1 (1.7 pounds, grams, kilograms, etc of food produces 1 pound/gram/kilogram of meat), pork is around 3, and beef is around 5-7. If you include everything, it drops to about 3/5/12 or so to 1 respectively.

          The goal isn't to make a completely healthy replacement (if you're eating a hamburger...), but one that consumes far less resources to produce and makes an acceptable substitute. So plant-based substitutes of beef for burgers will go a long way towards everything "green" since less resources are needed to make that burger from plants than from beef.

          Vegans, if you ask them, detest these plant-based substitutes because they feel it cheapens their "sacrifice" - if you can slap on plant based burger on the grill and have it bleed and act basically almost like a regular burger, and then enjoy it since for the most part it feels like a beef burger, they are offended you took the easy route.

          But really, in the end, it's something that's likely to be appealing - if people accept that the plant based substitute works, then you can help the planet by simple things like that. Convincing the world to go vegan is impossible. But convincing a family to perhaps try a plant based burger and maybe even substitute it in for a real burger one day a week has a much bigger effect.

          It's why the substitutes all go for beef - because at the lousy conversion rate beef has, and its popularity, you can do quite a lot of good. Replacing chicken with a plant based substitute is much harder since chicken is much more efficient to produced and little is gained going plant based.

          • by Cederic ( 9623 )

            Well, at the moment they're trying to replace burgers. That's.. pretty irrelevant.

            Give me something that has the taste and texture of a nice fat beef fillet steak, cooked how I like it, and I'll buy it, I'll eat it and I'll enjoy it.

            Until then, cows die.

          • Vegans, if you ask them, detest these plant-based substitutes because they feel it cheapens their "sacrifice" - if you can slap on plant based burger on the grill and have it bleed and act basically almost like a regular burger, and then enjoy it since for the most part it feels like a beef burger, they are offended you took the easy route.

            Not a vegan here, but have a lot of vegan friends. I can say that it is very clear that the set of vegans who have a problem with this is a small but very vocal fraction of all vegans. Most of them are pretty happy with this. I have one vegan friend who actually has been trying to get himself to eat the Beyond and Impossible synthemeats to help support this, even though he doesn't actually like them that much (not because they are bad but because they taste so much like meat that they just make him emotion

          • Vegans, if you ask them, detest these plant-based substitutes because they feel it cheapens their "sacrifice"

            ... What? Where did you get this idea? Setting aside the fact that, "they're all the same," is laughably stupid, I'm struggling to picture any vegans who detest fake meat for this reason. I'm sure there's one, somewhere, but why would you believe this?

            Let's pretend, just for the moment, that you are someone who believes that murder and cannibalism are wrong. So, because you try to be a good person, you give up all of your murdering and you feel like you've done something good. You've changed for the bett

          • and none of them detest these burgers. A lot of Vegans don't particularly like meat, so it's not surprising that an accurate meat substitute isn't appealing to them.
      • By 'legislation' do you mean some sort of UK government-mandated diet, or government-mandated tax on actual meat? You couldn't mean that, no one would put up with it. There are things you cannot get away wtih legislating.
        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          "So you said that" is always followed by an incomprehensible lie on the internet. Every time.

          But let's entertain your argument anyway, because it's an interesting one. Do you really think that enough people would disagree with it and actually fight it, and would this amount of people be able to resist the same people we're seeing agitating for harshest possible penalties against anyone who goes against them feeling safe?

          Because I think you would have had an argument about five years ago. Today UK government

          • There's something way way too upset in the way you're writing that leads me to believe that you've got some other axe to grind that has nothing to do with me or this subject, therefore I'm not going to engage you. You're free to believe whatever you want to believe and I'm leaving it at that. You'll get no further responses from me.
    • They will also price it double what they sell real meat for too.
    • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

      by backslashdot ( 95548 )

      Actually, the Impossible burger tastes pretty damn good. Have you tried it? It's 100x better than veggie burgers. Maybe it got left on the shelf where you are because people haven't tried it.

    • I don't see the appeal myself, and I am vegan. Tofu and okara are fine with me. No need for Impossible Burgers.

      But the price of fake meat is falling and the quality is rising. The meat shortage has resulted in many people giving it a try. Some of them may switch permanently.

      After electricity generation, transportation, and heating, meat is the biggest contributor to AGW. So more people switching to plant-based protein is a good thing.

      • This 'seitan' cereal gloop sounds like really unappetising stodge though. I'm struggling to understand the demand for it over vegie burgers made from chickpeas or lentils.

        But as a meat-eater, surely it's about adding more vegetarian dishes to one's culinary repertoire rather than pursuit of faux-meat. e.g. before covid closed all our restaurants, being adventurous and trying the veg-option - "these zucchini fritters are really yummy; can I have the recipe?"

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It adds some variety. I'm not so much interested in it being a perfect replica of the best beef burger I ever had, just that it tastes good.

    • Re:300% (Score:4, Insightful)

      by shilly ( 142940 ) on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @01:53AM (#60556296)

      I can preemuch 100% guarantee you don’t live in the UK, and have no clue who Tesco is, nor how they operate. They are hard-nosed retailers in the most competitive market of its kind in the world. They fought and survived a vicious price war with discounters, and there is no way they’d allow PR noise on this unless it was meaningful for them. If this were a small thing, then Tesco would have to waste energy countering accusations like yours but from people who actually know what they’re on about. So it’s a big thing. Cursory research shows meat-based alternatives are currently at about 10% of meat sales, and the proportion is growing fast. Not surprising Tesco are seeking to capitalise on that growth.

      • by Cederic ( 9623 )

        there is no way theyâ(TM)d allow PR noise on this unless it was meaningful for them

        You do however need to differentiate between being meaningful in terms of sales of these products, and meaningful in terms of boosting their brand with people that politically align with the anti-meat agenda.

        It could be meaningful with both, but doesn't have to be. Bear in mind also that their 300% increase can include traditional 'vegetarian sausage' and comparable products, although frankly they're going to have to work hard on the taste of those to sell any more.

        • by shilly ( 142940 )

          They're amoral and smart marketers. They're not going to build brand with people who want meat-free food if it damages reputation with a larger cohort who have a problem with meat-free food.

      • How they operate is apparently to keep all their fresh goods in some central warehouse for a few weeks until the "meat" they sourced from some donkey slaughterhouse goes grey. Aldi meat may be 90% water but at least it is a named species and isn't off, but for organic grass-fed unicorn you have to stick with Waitrose. Tesco has reasonable cheese and yoghurt (since that is milk that has gone off) especially chai lassi coming up to diwali, so maybe plant based food will be a winner for tesco - they did sell L
    • by dbialac ( 320955 )

      If you ask a vegan, they seem to think that all that's needed is a plant-based alternative and people will start buying that and eating that instead. It doesn't occur to them that the rest of us don't want to not eat meat.

  • by misnohmer ( 1636461 ) on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @10:50PM (#60556014)

    The article doesn't state what they started with. Maybe they sold 2 plant based burgers, then one more got them 50% increase, so another 300% is to setting their targets on 12 burgers a year.

    Given that, this article is completely meaningless as it lacks details.

    • Vegetarian here (Score:4, Informative)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @11:03PM (#60556036)
      I don't normally bother bringing this up because I'm not so much as Vegetarian as somebody who doesn't like the taste of meat. I've got an odd sense of taste such that I pick up mostly on texture and not taste, so meat is like chewy Styrofoam to me.

      Anyway there's a ton of meat alternatives out there. You'll find a pretty big frozen section. I've been eating the black bean burgers for years. I've had to various fake hamburgers too, they're alright but not all that much better than a plain black bean burger. But the base line of sales is higher than you think. Even without vegetarians you still have folks who abstain for religious reasons.
      • "higher than you think" is not a number. They are not planning to do 300% of global or even UK market number, just 300% of what only they sold in the past, so it could be almost nothing. It's not like there aren't stores out there with little to no selection of fake meat products. If McDonnads was to announce a 300% increase in their own sales of plant-based burgers, that would not be very much, would it.

      • by Cederic ( 9623 )

        I've had to various fake hamburgers too, they're alright but not all that much better than a plain black bean burger.

        A good bean burger is fantastic. It's not a substitute for a beef burger. It's an alternative.

        I'm glad it exists, I welcome the introduction of more foods that taste that good, and will happily eat them. But don't go pretend (and you personally didn't; this is a more general statement) that they're substitutes for a beef burger.

        Is that too much to ask?

        • because for some people it is. For you personally? No, it's not a substitute. For me? Yeah. I grew up with hamburgers as a dietary staple (not, I am not a healthy person :) ). So I still want to have them from time to time mostly due to nostalgia (nostalgia weird like that). It's also useful when I'm out since they're usually the only thing on a restaurant menu that's "vegetarian" when I get dragged to some place for work.

          That said I can guess you underlining worry, which is that if these meat substitut
          • by Cederic ( 9623 )

            if these meat substitutes take off the price of actual meat is going to skyrocket as the subsidies get pulled

            What subsidies? If my local meat was subsidised we wouldn't have so much meat imported from other countries.

            Fewer people eating meat means production will fall purely to stop the price collapsing.

      • Not a vegetarian here:

        I like beef burgers, but a good black bean burger is a great alternative and I never go away disappointed if it is well prepared.

        I like them better than things like beyond and incredible because they're their own thing, they don't try to pretend to be a crappier version of meat.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I've noticed the plant based meat section growing over time.

      I think the real motivation for this is that they can see the UK farming sector is about to collapse, there will be a flood of cheap low cost meat from the US that British people find disgusting, and meat imports will be heavily affected by brexit. So next year when everywhere has shortages they will have plenty of plant based meat products to sell.

    • At my local, they have one sub-section of refridgerator devoted to this stuff:
      Typical Tesco Fridge [wordpress.com]

      This section is a part of an aisle with maybe 10-15 sections on each side, 2-3 aisles for refridgerated meat. As someone else pointed out, it's not usually busy and the last to be emptied when there's a rush.

      What's not mentioned is the cost of this stuff. Compared to meat, it often seems expensive and given the lack of f**ks the British public give when various celebrities and others try and push them t
  • by fredrated ( 639554 ) on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @12:27AM (#60556148) Journal

    is unhealthy. And fake meat is highly processed.

    • This.

      I'm saying this as someone that grew up in the third generation of a quite ideological vegetarian family. I started to include some red meat in my diet about 10 years ago due to health reasons, although I eat it maybe once a week and am quite happy with a diet that is a fairly good representation of the typical "Blood type A" vegetarian diet (which I read yesterday for what it's worth). I feel I eat quite tasty, and do the crossfit thing at an age where my peers' kids go to college or get married.

      We

  • by ledow ( 319597 )

    I don't want plant-based pseudo-meat.

    I want meat.

    I don't really care if it's grown in a lab, cut off a cow once a fortnight by making it grow extra, nerveless muscle so we have an infinite source of meat, or from a slaughtered animal.

    I care about two things:

    - the taste. You're telling me that this plant-free meat can taste like beef AND chicken AND turkey? Really? I highly doubt that. Unless it's 99% flavouring and 1% "meat". Every meat-substitute I've ever tried does not taste or feel-in-the-mouth any

    • by Cederic ( 9623 )

      feel-in-the-mouth

      Texture is different to taste, and does continue to be a challenge for the fake-meat purveyors.

      Gammon tastes fantastic. It's a simple meat and yet manages to be one of the greatest tastes on the planet. But anybody can mix pork and salt; they're still never going to replace gammon as something I adore unless they can also match its texture.

      Nothing else on the planet matches a thick slice of gammon. It's the taste and the texture, and I pity my weird religious friends that they can't enjoy it.

  • It's one of the lower-end UK supermarkets. Eat mystery food from them at your own risk. Don't forget the horsemeat scandal (meat in tesco burgers did not come from approved suppliers, and half of it was horsemeat, oops).
  • by Stephen Chadfield ( 7971 ) on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @05:37AM (#60556582) Homepage

    Fresh, well prepared meat is delicious and healthy. Fresh, well prepared fish is delicious and healthy. Fresh, well prepared vegetables are delicious and healthy.

    Don't poison yourself with shitty "plant-based alternatives".

    From Japan - the home of great food.

  • If you want plants that taste like beef, feed them to cows.
    It's been working for millennia.
  • I'll buy plant based meat when it's priced below meat. I'm not falling for the scam at the moment.
  • You can do this yourself, without having to buy overpriced mixes with many ingredients, and added fat.

    When making burgers, or anything with ground beef, mix the ground beef with one third or so of chickpeas or beans.

    Spread the meat throughout the week: one day beef, another chicken, another fish, another legumes, and so on. That way, you are not eating red meat day after day.

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