Knowledge and Quality Management

Part of our mission is to strengthen our work as well as the animal protection movement by evaluating our work and by sharing information.

Providing well-founded information

We put a high emphasis on using scientifically sound sources for everything we publish – especially so for our German cornerstone articles about each of the commonly farmed animal species, vegan nutrition and health, and the environmental and socio-economic impacts of animal farming. Our reasoning behind this is that the animal protection movement must be credible if it wants to gain more influence. When it comes to ensuring the quality of our work we can rely on our scientific advisory board.

Our articles are increasingly used by other organizations (animal protection and beyond), book authors, the media, Wikipedia, etc. Since 2013, our articles have been cited in at least 22 books. The media also often refers to these articles when going into depth.

Study into meat alternatives

In 2017, we published our first-ever externally commissioned study. The subject of the study – »Meat Alternatives: Nutritional Evaluation of Conventional and Organic Vegetarian and Vegan Meat and Sausage Alternatives« – was chosen because of its current relevance and topicality; the study itself was conducted by the Institute for Alternative and Sustainable Food (IFANE). The study shows that plant-based meats are (with some exceptions) the healthier choice.

The published results acquired significant media resonance and caught the attention of further multipliers in the nutrition sector. Overall, we are confident that our study provided a methodically sound basis that, provided it continues to receive media attention and is cited in research projects, will continue to contribute to a nuanced and much more positive impression of meat alternatives in the future.

Initiating and supporting science

We worked with the Fachhochschule des Mittelstands, a college of higher education, to establish the »Institute for Ethical Nutrition« and the B. A. program »Vegan Food Management«. Graduates will help food companies to expand and to improve their vegan offerings. Our involvement stretches from introducing the idea to working out details, suggesting a professor and helping with accreditation to designing and teaching some courses.

Surveys and evaluations to improve projects and materials

We are constantly evaluating and improving our work: We implement monitoring measures, detect potentials, review and set goals, define target groups and analyze the actual impact of our work. Thus, we were able to permanently revise and improve our main leaflet and our Vegan Taste Week.

Improving project management

In 2016, we have done an analysis on the areas we want to improve in regarding our project management. We have developed and implemented some solutions and released an internal guide for project management. This guide is regularly updated and adjusted to meet our needs. Since 2019 we have been using the project management software Asana to organize our work. Furthermore, we are improving our entire staff’s project management skills as needed. Thus, we are able to ensure efficient and effective projects.