In 2022, Latin America had the highest growth rate for plant-based meat substitutes among all regions worldwide. Latin America's growth rate was approximately 36 percent. This was more than three times as much as the growth rate of Europe, which was the second-fastest growing region, with approximately nine percent growth.

In 2022, the investment in plant-based companies amounted to nearly 2.1 billion U.S. dollars. By comparison, the annual investment in plant-based companies amounted to approximately 23 million U.S. dollars in 2010.

According to a survey conducted among people who took part in Veganuary worldwide in 2023, approximately 25 percent of respondents intended to continue eating a vegan diet after Veganuary, compared to around seven percent who did not intend to do so. The share of those who did not maintain a Vegan diet during the month rose from 2021 to 2023 by 25 percent.

According to a survey conducted among people who took part in Veganuary worldwide in 2023, nearly half of the respondents intended to reduce their consumption of animal products by at least three quarters or more after Veganuary. Only one percent of respondents stated that they would not do so at all.

In 2023, the region of Europe accounted for the highest retail sales of plant-based meat, valued at 3.3 billion U.S. dollars. In comparison, the APAC region had retail sales that year with 339 million dollars.

BackgroundThe adoption of vegetarian diets is increasing worldwide, including among females in Saudi Arabia. This increase has not yet been explained. The present study explores the factors influencing the intention to follow a vegetarian diet among Saudi women using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework.Materials and methodsAn online self-administered questionnaire was distributed between July 2023 and January 2024. A total of 998 Saudi females participated, including both vegetarians (n = 417, 41.8%) and non-vegetarians (n = 581, 58.2%), who answered questions relating to their sociodemographic characteristics, awareness and perceived understanding of vegetarian diets, awareness of and adherence to dietary guidelines, dietary habits, and TPB predictors. Multivariable linear regression was used with dietary guideline awareness, body mass index, self-rated perceived weight, socioeconomic status index, and the TPB constructs as predictors to explain the intention to follow a vegetarian diet (outcome).ResultsAttitude (standardized β-coefficient = 0.29, p 

Meal choice at two university canteens in a field experiment during 12 weeks: aggregated menu sales data

How do canteen visitors respond to a revised offer of meat-based and plant-based meals? Selected innovations were simultaneously implemented and tested in a transdisciplinary field experiment in two university canteens over a 12-week period in the autumn semester 2017. Throughout this time, the meat dishes and ‘veg-meals’ (ovo-lacto-vegetarian and vegan meals) were randomly distributed among the three menu lines, the veg-meals were not marketed and advertised as such and the previous vegetarian menu line was abolished. Weeks where the usual number of meat dishes were on offer (the ‘base weeks’) alternated with weeks where the share of veg-meals was increased (the ‘intervention weeks’).
The field experiment did not have a negative impact on the number of meals sold or the turnover compared to the two previous years. Women choose meat dishes less often than men. This connection applies in the base weeks and intervention weeks, in all age groups, among both students and among staff. Remarkably, the share of (non-labelled) vegan dishes is comparable for women and men over all age groups, independent of university affiliation (student, staff). Authentic vegan dishes were particularly welcome. Veg-meals could also be sold on the more expensive menu line. There was a better correlation between meal choice, eating habits and attitudes (health, environment, animal welfare, social aspects) than expected.
One quarter of canteen visitors show ‘veg-oriented’ eating habits and three quarters thereof ‘meat-oriented’ eating habits. Only a minority of potential visitors eat regularly at the canteen, and those who do exhibit meat-oriented eating habits more often. We conclude, therefore, that the canteen’s usual menu offer is primarily aimed at visitors with meat-oriented eating habits at lunchtime. The most typical visitors to the canteen are male students who select meat dishes.
It has been shown, therefore, that the simultaneous changes in supply have worked. Veg-meals are preferred, particularly by women and those prone to flexitarian eating habits; however, also the canteen visitors with meat-oriented eating habits chose veg-meals during the intervention weeks. Catering in canteens has the great potential to expand the range of veg-meals at the expense of meat dishes, provided that the culinary quality is of a high enough standard and meals are not offered as vegetarian or vegan. The question arises as to whether canteens are not missing an economic opportunity if they only offer traditional meat dishes? Canteens are perfectly suited as real-world laboratories in which innovations for sustainable catering can be tried out. The field experiment in the two university canteens is a start; further experiments are needed.

The data set contains more than 26'000 aggregated menu sales. The analyses and results are summarized in the working paper No. 5 https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-1405

The corresponding scripts are:

- 10.5281/zenodo.4034686

- 10.5281/zenodo.4034698

- 10.5281/zenodo.4244258 (newer Version)

For more information visit the novanimal.ch website.

EPIC-Oxford is the Oxford component of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), a large multi-centre cohort study with participants enrolled from 10 European countries. The EPIC-Oxford study began in the 1990s and follows the health of 65,000 men and women living throughout the UK, many of whom are vegetarian. The main objective of EPIC Oxford is to examine how diet influences the risk of cancer, particularly for the most common types of cancer in Britain, as well as the risks of other chronic diseases.

EPIC-Europe was initiated in 1992. It involves over 500,000 people from 23 centres in 10 European countries. It is coordinated by the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, and supported by the European Union and national funding agencies.

EPIC-Oxford is one of two EPIC cohorts in the UK, the other is EPIC-Norfolk.

For further details on the study design, recruitment, data collection and other aspects of the EPIC-Oxford study, please visit https://www.ceu.ox.ac.uk/research/epic-oxford-1

Proportion of the 2020 US human population who could be fed with food energy savings associated with vegan diets.