“IKEA is taking a full value chain approach to contributing to sustainable food systems.”
Swedish furniture giant IKEA has announced a new set of food commitments in an effort to make “healthy and sustainable food more affordable and desirable to the many people.”
In a pre-event for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, the company pledged to make 50% of its restaurant meals plant-based by 2025. It added that 80% of its meals will also be free of red meat by then.
IKEA also intends to make 80% of its packaged meals plant-based in the next five years.
‘Making a positive difference’
Lena Pripp-Kovac, Chief Sustainability Officer at Inter IKEA Group, said: “IKEA wants to make healthy and sustainable choices the most desirable option, by for example demonstrating that plant-based food can be really delicious.
“Research confirms the importance of making sustainable products affordable and desirable, and IKEA can really make a positive difference here. The more sustainable choice shouldn’t be a luxury for the few. It should be part of people’s everyday life.”
New climate friendly vegan meatballs
The multinational furniture company has already taken steps towards realizing its sustainability commitments. In August, it launched the plant-based version of its iconic meatballs in the UK amid much fanfare.
It already offered a vegan-friendly, plant-based meatball made with chickpeas, green peas, and carrots.
However, the new plant balls developed to look and taste more like its traditional meatballs, are said to have just 4 % of the climate footprint of its meat counterpart.
They are made from pea protein, oats, apples, and potatoes.
Responsible and sustainable food system
“A truly sustainable food system must be based on delicious, nutritious, and responsibly produced food,” Managing Director for IKEA of Sweden and Manager IKEA Range & Supply, Peter van der Poel, said.
“IKEA is taking a full value chain approach to contributing to sustainable food systems, from responsible sourcing of materials, reducing food waste along the value chain, circular and more sustainable packaging, and using the IKEA reach to make healthy and sustainable food options available to as many people as possible.”
Retail expansion
Since its launch, the company has rolled out the plant ball to US, Australia, Singapore, and Dubai to get more consumers to choose plant-based options and stay on track to its goals of becoming climate positive by 2030.
Sharla Halvorson, Health and Sustainability Manager for the global IKEA food business, said in a statement: “At IKEA we sell more than one billion meatballs every year.
“Imagine if we could get some of our many meatball lovers to choose the plant ball instead.
“If we were to convert about 20 percent of our meatball sales to plant balls that would mean around eight percent reduction of our climate footprint for the food business at IKEA.”
Share this story to let others know about IKEA’s efforts in making its food system sustainable.
Lifestyle
Vegan culture, food, beauty & more
Gordon Ramsay Ditches Vegan Hate and Backs Flora’s Plant-Based Butter in New ‘Skip the Cow’ Campaign
- Totally Vegan Buzz Team
- 28th January 2025
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, once infamous for his digs at vegans, has taken a sharp turn in the kitchen. Ramsay has teamed up with Flora, the famous UK-based spread brand, as its global ambassador, marking a bold new chapter in Flora’s “Skip the Cow” campaign. Flora, established in 1964, has long been a household name …
The Top 10 Vegan-Friendly Places in Latin America
- Totally Vegan Buzz Team
- 27th January 2025
Latin America is experiencing an extraordinary rise in plant-based dining options. A new study, spearheaded by Veganuary in partnership with the food discovery platform HappyCow, reveals that Latin America now boasts over 10,000 vegan, vegetarian, and vegan-friendly restaurants—an impressive 21.6% jump compared to last year. Brazil takes the crown as the number one country, with …
Continue reading “The Top 10 Vegan-Friendly Places in Latin America”
VEGAN MEMES
NEED A LAUGH?
QUIZZES
All the quizzes you love to binge!
QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert
- Marlon Farrugia
- 10th January 2020
How much vegan knowledge do you have stored away? Do you have to Google your way through a shopping trip, or do you have all the bad E-numbers memorised? Find out now with this quiz. [wpViralQuiz id=27203]
QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 13th October 2019
Spook Season approaches. There will be ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and glucose. You need a costume, and you want to it to show off your personality, which means VEGAN. But what to choose? Take our quiz to find out your perfect outfit. [wpViralQuiz id=33494]
QUIZ: What kind of vegetable are you?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 26th September 2019
“If you were a vegetable, what kind would you be?” A question that has tormented humanity throughout the ages – until now. [wpViralQuiz id=31281] Read: QUIZ: If you score 19/20 on THIS quiz, you’re a Vegan God