Why a label for meat-free products?

1. A problematic situation

• Not enough safeguards when buying vegetarian or vegan (entirely plant-based) products.
• Food that is supposedly vegetarian offered on the market.
• A general mistrust with regard to pre-prepared food.
• More and more so-called convenience foods, where the respective meat products are difficult to detect just by looking.

2. The Solution

• Clear marking of all meat-free products on offer
• Designation of caterers/restaurants who supply food which is suitable for vegetarians.

3. Aims

• Quick and clear recognition of vegetarian and purely plant-based products
• Promotion of the growing vegetarian and purely plant-based product market sector
• European-wide uniform labelling of vegetarian products
• Promotion of vegetarian choices in restaurants

4. Target Groups

• Food-conscious consumers
• Consumers cutting down on their meat intake
• Vegetarians
• Allergy sufferers
• Members of religious communities with specific dietary restrictions (i.e. prohibition of pork and other pig products, Kosher or Halal)

Here you find more information as to what consumer groups are addressed with the vegetarian labelling: consumer groups
After the outbreak of BSE in Germany around 8% of Germans claimed that they had become vegetarian. According to a forsa study a good 30% of 18-25 year old women stated that they ate meat only once a week and wanted to reduce this further; this means that 6.4 million people in Germany could profit from having the V-label. The same trend can be seen in other European countries. According to the study by Nutri-Trend, already 9% of the population in Switzerland (almost) always eats vegetarian food.

Animal feed scandals, and others relating to the meat industry, are yet again causing more and more consumers to turn to a vegetarian lifestyle.

The V label has a long term aim – to continually increase the meat-free market sector.

This label helps the food industry and restaurants cope with a trend which will only get stronger in the future.