Breakthrough: Dutch company brings first plant-based steak to Tesco supermarkets
Dutch food manufacturer, Vivera has just announced, as the first company in the world, it will bring a 100% plant-based steak to market. Vivera has already started production and expects to produce several million pieces in 2018.
With current production of over 1 million meat replacements a week, they are one of the three largest producers in Europe. The company sees a strong growing international demand for plant-based products. Vivera has been a founder of meat alternatives in Europe since 1990.
Britain’s Tesco, the biggest supermarket chain in Europe, started selling the 100% plant-based steak in more than 400 outlets this week.
In June 2018, several large supermarket chains will follow in the Netherlands. From July, Vivera will begin to sell it to German, French and Italian consumers too. Only plant-based ingredients like wheat and soy are used in the production. This allows vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians to enjoy this ground-breaking product.
Vivera’s Gert Jan Gombert says, “With this breakthrough and large-scale production, a large group of consumers can enjoy this very tasty plant-based product. The smell, taste and bite can hardly be distinguished from real steak.”
“We are convinced that this product will meet a large need of consumers. It is very important that we eat less meat, both for our own health, animal welfare and for our planet. Innovative and high-quality plant-based products can make a significant contribution here.’
Here in New Zealand, the new ProteinTECH Conference brings together leaders in primary industries from the development and research fields. These key people have their finger on the pulse of changing food production trends, alongside industry analysts, financiers and key accounting/consulting firms.
“Vivera has done well to bring this earlier-than-expected arrival of plant-based steak products onto supermarket shelves,” says ProteinTECH conference director, John Stulen.
See https://proteintech.events/ to register or view the programme. The one-day ProteinTECH conference runs on 24 July at the Novotel Auckland Airport Hotel.
