Germany hosted the highest number of vegan launches worldwide in 2016

While vegan is a hot market worldwide, it seems that Germany is the leading country for vegan product innovation globally. According to Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD), Germany was the leading market for vegan food and drink product launch activity in 2016, with 18 % of all global food and drink product launches with vegan claims occurring in Germany. The only country coming close to this amount of vegan launch activity in 2016 was the United States, where 17 % of all new global vegan food and drink products were launched, followed by the UK with 10 % global share.

Mintel research reveals that vegan-friendly launches have soared over the past few years in Germany, with the share of food and drink products featuring vegan claims in total food and drink launches rising from 1 % in 2012 to 13 % of all launches in 2016. This is in stark contrast to the fact that, globally, food and drink products with vegan claims only accounted for 4 % of new food and drink introductions in 2016.

Vegetarian claims have also witnessed growth in recent years in Germany. Over the past five years, the share of food and drink launches with vegetarian claims in total food and drink product launches in Germany more than doubled, rising from 3 % in 2012 to 7 % in 2016. The global share of food and drink product launches with vegetarian claims is, meanwhile, relatively stable at around 11 % of all food and drink launches in 2016, with little fluctuation over the last five years.

Mintel research confirms this, revealing that one in three (33 %) of German adults regularly check the ingredients list, while 35 % avoid food and drink products with artificial additives and preservatives. And it seems that the majority of meat substitute products do contain some sort of food additives: according to Mintel, over two thirds of German launches in 2016 in the meat substitute segment contained stabilisers (74 %), thickeners (72 %) and bulking agents (63 %); while over half included emulsifiers (63 %) and gelling agents (52 %).