The Vegan Society has given a cautious welcome to the government’s announcement that, as part of the forthcoming 10 Year Health Plan, large retailers including supermarkets will be set a new standard to make the average shopping basket of goods sold “slightly healthier”.
Claire Ogley, Head of Campaigns, Policy and Research at The Vegan Society said:
"We're delighted to see the government implementing a measure for which we and others have been calling for some time. We urgently need measures to drive up the consumption of fruit, vegetables, legumes, wholegrains and other healthy plant-based foods in this country. Requiring food businesses to report on proportions of these foods sold and to incentivise increasing the proportion of plant-based proteins sold will be a great first step.
“However, we need a more dramatic shift to plant-rich diets than this relatively light touch approach indicates. Our diet is bad for us, bad for the planet, and very bad for the billion animals who are killed for food in this country each year. Our research shows that a transition to plant-based diets could save the NHS more than £6.7 billion per year.
"The government can and must take further sensible, pragmatic action to make plant-based foods accessible, affordable and attractive to people, including by providing practical education for the general public about growing, preparing and cooking fruit, vegetables, pulses and wholegrains, by running integrated and holistic public health campaigns to promote fruit and vegetable consumption and by supporting farmers to make the transition to sustainable plant-based agriculture."
