Retailers should offer more vegan sarnies to help customers embrace flexitarian diets, campaigners have urged as British Sandwich Week kicks off.
Eating Better – an alliance of organisations encouraging people to eat ‘less but better’ meat –conducted a ‘snapshot survey ‘of supermarket sandwiches to see how easy it was to avoid animal products at lunchtime.
It found that just 3% of the 620 sandwiches surveyed from eight supermarkets and four high street sandwich chains were completely plant-based and contained no meat, fish, egg or cheese.
Sue Dibbs of Eating Better said the lack of plant-based options was at odds with consumer demand for meat-free options and the growing interest in flexitarian diets.
“Going meat free at lunchtime is one easy way to cut back on overall consumption, but our survey highlights what little choice there currently is in sandwiches on supermarket shelves,” she explained.
“We believe there is a real market opportunity here for food manufacturers and retailers to provide customers with more plant-based choices.”
The survey also found that meat and fish-free sandwiches were on average between half and three quarters the price of those with meat and fish fillings.
“People often think that eating sustainably costs more, but this shows that cutting back on meat and fish can actually help consumers save money,” added Dibbs.
No comments yet