Customers are choosing veg as top meat alternative, as Tesco’s latest sustainability report outlines key targets on healthy food sales and emissions reductions
Tesco plans to increase sales of its plant-based meat alternatives by 300 per cent by December 2025 and said its customers are increasingly turning to dishes where veg is the star.
In its sustainability report for 2024-25, published this week, the UK’s largest retailer emphasised products and services linked to health, describing its “key focus” as removing barriers to consumers making healthy and sustainable food choices.
The report said many customers who are interested in plant-based foods are turning to veg-led dishes, where vegetables are the star, rather than relying on meat alternatives.
These veg-led foods now represent 40 per cent of all plant-based sales, according to retail analysts IRI/Circana , and is equivalent to nearly an extra 600,000 veg-led dishes sold by Tesco this year.
Tesco also outlined products and services that met its focus on health in the last year, including opening its first dedicated health zone at the Cheshunt Extra store. The new pilot store brings together food, health and wellness ranges, alongside enhanced pharmacy and healthcare services.
Gut health and protein are key health trends
According to the report, the retailer is on track to reach its target of increasing healthy products as a proportion of total sales to 65 per cent by December 2025 in the UK.
It has been rolling out ‘better baskets zones’ and signposting to highlight products that are higher fibre, a source of protein, represent one five-a-day, or are lower in calories.
There is also an increased demand for functional health products, Tesco said, with protein and gut health as two key areas that have become mainstream. In January 2024, Tesco customers searched the words ‘gut health’ more than 6,000 times on Tesco.com and the retailer has launched a raft of new products across dairy, frozen and chilled to respond to this demand.
In the last year, popular gut health scientists, including Professor Tim Spector, have emphasised how eating a diversity of fruit and vegetables is the best way to improve gut health.
Tesco produce suppliers encouraged to calculate carbon footprints
From an emissions point of view, Tesco said it will achieve carbon-neutral in-house operations by 2035, and will extend this to net zero for its supply chain emissions by 2050. Tesco produce suppliers are encouraged to carry out carbon footprinting of their business in preparation for this step.
“Through LEAF Marque certification, our UK-based fruit and veg growers are also encouraged to carbon footprint, with 57% of them carrying this out in 2023,” the report said.
“More broadly we continue to support and encourage carbon footprinting as a key step in helping farmers understand what they can do to farm more sustainably and improve their resilience.”
Group chief executive Ken Murphy said Tesco has a ”critical role” to play in creating a more resilient and sustainable food system. “This responsibility is central to how we do business – and for good reason,” he said.
“Global food production generates a third of greenhouse gas emissions. Climate shocks, like droughts and floods, are impacting food supply chains, including the farmers and suppliers we rely on. It’s vital we futureproof our business, and work with our suppliers and the communities we operate in to do the same, to continue to provide customers with quality, affordable food.”
