New IKEA food commitments, announced Tuesday by the furniture giant, state that 50% of main meals offered in the restaurants will be plant-based, 80% to be non-red meat, and 80% of all packaged food offered to be plant-based by 2025. The company has recently introduced a veggie ball, a chicken ball, a veggie hot dog and a salmon ball.
As we reported in September, IKEA has been introducing plantbased options around the world in locations such as Australia, Japan, and Dubai. In October it began trialling a vegan burger in Canada.
“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” says Lena Pripp-Kovac, Chief Sustainability Officer at Inter IKEA Group.
In a statement to vegconomist in 2018, IKEA commented, “We are observing that alternative lifestyles and diets are becoming more and more popular, and the demand continues to rise. We are eager to follow trends and are happy to meet the challenges that this presents for us as a company.”