Futurologists at Switzerland’s Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI), an independent think-tank and the oldest organisation of its kind in Switzerland, have said that the Swiss population should eat an entirely meatless diet by 2050.
“Meat from conventional production will one day be for our grandchildren what the audio cassette is for us today: a relic fallen out of time”.
“We will have no choice but to switch to alternative proteins,” said Christine Schäfer from the organisation, which is today holding a food innovation conference on fermentation in food. A working paper from the GDI adds, “Meat from conventional production will one day be for our grandchildren what the audio cassette is for us today: a relic fallen out of time”.
A growing trend
The transition to meatless diets is already underway in Switzerland, where one in five francs generated from burger sales now comes from plant-based burgers. Per capita meat consumption in the country fell from 64.4 kilograms in 1980 to 47.3 kilograms in 2020. Additionally, four percent of the Swiss population now identifies as vegetarian, and 0.6% as vegan.
Meat-free in Switzerland
Switzerland is home to several alt-protein companies, four of which joined forces last September to form the Swiss Protein Association. The Association aims to raise awareness of the benefits of alternative protein sources for a sustainable diet.
As vegetarian, vegan, and flexitarian diets gain in popularity in Switzerland, many companies are responding with new meatless options. Burger King has just opened two entirely vegetarian locations in the country, and Swiss retailers such as Coop and Migros are launching new products as plant-based sales spike.
“Our plant-based range has grown by almost half in the last four years,” Nadine Riedener, Brand Group Manager at Coop, told 20min.ch. “We expect the market to continue to grow.”
