UK's largest supermarket sells vegan meats in a meat corridor

Tesco, the largest supermarket in the UK, has announced that it will sell meat-based meat products alongside meat to encourage customers to reduce their meat consumption.

"As of Monday, flexitarians, who consume meat and vegetable based substitutes, will be able to find one next to each other in a new facility in the meat department of larger department stores. Tesco, "said a spokesman for Tesco.

The grocery giant says it's an attempt to actively encourage consumers to reduce their meat consumption and consume more vegetables and herbal substitutes .

Tesco believes that by selling side-by-side meat and vegan products, it will be easier for flexitarians (people who only eat meat occasionally) to reduce their meat consumption.

Tesco already sells Beyond Meat vegan products in its freezers, next to animal products, but this decision will extend the policy to other vegan meat products such as Vegetarian Butcher.

The sale of Beyond Meat products alongside animal meats worked extremely well for Beyond Meat in the United States, instead of beef, said Beyond Meat's founder, Ethan Brown, in Forbes. last year.

"So we sell more than Angus beef, more than 80/20, more than grbad fed beef, to unity," he said.

"I was waiting to stay in the case of meat, but not to get spilled. I had never thought, in a million years, that we would become the number one seller in terms of cakes in the meat business. "

In addition, the company announced last month that it was experiencing similar success by selling vegan sausages next to animal meat.

As the British continue to turn to a more vegetal diet, Tesco also hopes to take advantage of it.

"The increase in the consumption of plant-based foods and the flexitarization of individuals has a considerable impact on the way many people buy and … the retail trade has to adapt," said Derek Sarno, director of plant-based innovation at Tesco.

The United Kingdom is significantly moving towards a plant-based diet. Recent data shows that the British ate 4.4 billion meatless meals in 2018, an increase of 150 million from 2017.

In addition, one study found that 22% of Britons plan to be vegans, vegetarians or pescadians by the end of 2019.