Protein Diversification

The consumption of animal products needs to go down – for reasons of health, environmental protection, global food justice and ethics. Consumers want healthy, sustainable options and more animal welfare. In reality, this seemingly easy-to-solve situation is often met with a desire for change by the food industry, but also with great uncertainty, a high demand for knowledge and sometimes a lack of effective prioritization.

Food manufacturers and retailers have a major influence on production standards and the products purchased by consumers. This makes food companies key players when it comes to accelerating the necessary protein shift – by diversifying the resources in their supply chains and increasing the proportion of plant-based proteins. We are committed to providing them with practical and effective support for sustainable change. We facilitate corporate efforts by providing consultations, practical resources and networking opportunities in a multitude of ways:

Our program Plant Potential enhances and structures corporate efforts to use fewer animal products and improve the plant-based portfolio. We offer a high-quality toolbox and support companies in finding adequate measurement frameworks. Together with our corporate partners, we set individual goals, define intermediate steps, support impact evaluation and facilitate a result-oriented diversification path. Popular actions from our toolbox include plant-based default, price parity and marketing measures as well as lowering food waste through portion size reduction.

Our website Lebensmittel-Fortschritt (»food progress«) specifically addresses decision makers in the food industry. We provide relevant best practice insights, practical minimum welfare requirements for all major animal groups and information about market developments through blog posts and a regular newsletter.

Through benchmarks and rankings, we create transparency for companies and consumers alike: Which efforts are currently leading in the sector and who are the laggards? Examples include retail rankings assessing the status quo for plant-based portfolios and animal welfare standards.