UK’s Largest Supermarket Tesco To Increase Its Vegan Meat Sales by 300 Percent by 2025 

United Kingdom-based supermarket Tesco aims to increase its plant-based meat sales by 300 percent by 2025 as part of its new sustainability initiative. The retailer is the first in the UK to announce its target to increase its plant-based meat sales. To achieve its goal, the retailer aims to introduce new products in the plant-based meat category and stock plant-based meats alongside their animal counterparts to give consumers a direct choice between the two. As a transparency measure, Tesco will also begin to publish data on its plant-based meat sales alongside its total protein sales. “Our transparency on protein sales and our new sales target for meat alternatives gives us the platform to become more sustainable and will provide customers with even more choice,” Tesco CEO Dave Lewis said. 

The new sustainability measures were created in partnership with environmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), with the aim of slashing the environmental impact of the average shopping basket in the UK by half. “The food system has been identified as the biggest culprit, but also presents one of the greatest opportunities to reverse this trend; rebalancing our diets is a critical part of that,” WWF CEO Tanya Steele said. 

In recent years, Tesco has greatly expanded its vegan options thanks in large part to Derek Sarno, its executive chef and Director of Plant-Based Innovation, who launched his Wicked Kitchen ready-made vegan meal line at the retailer in 2018. Last year, Tesco announced it would close its meat, fish, and deli counters to streamline its business operations. Under its new initiative, Tesco plans to add new plant-based items across 20 categories, including frozen food, ready-made meals, and party food.