The most vegan-friendly supermarket in Belgium

According to a recent study by BE Vegan and ProVeg Belgium, Albert Heijn is the supermarket chain with the widest vegan offer in Flanders and Brussels. The analysis assessed the availability of plant-based products in 6 large supermarket chains.

Remarkable growth

Albert Heijn tops the rankings, Delhaize is 2nd and remarkably, Colruyt has moved up to 3rd, overtaking Carrefourt for the first time.

“It is mainly the growth of the plant-based ready meals range that puts Colruyt in third place. Colruyt is also catching up in meat and fish substitutes, up 30% since 2022, and has doubled its offer in vegetable cold cuts and sausages. A wide range of vegetarian products has also become fully plant-based since 2022,” the press release said.

The 2023 ranking largely mirrors the previous year’s results, except that Colruy has been overtaken by Carrefour. Albert Heijn continues to excel in the vegan confectionery and vegan dairy substitutes segments.

Lidl and Aldi have both expanded their plant-based product ranges

Despite a smaller selection compared to other supermarkets, Lidl does well in sauces, dips, spreads and snacks, while Aldi’s strength lies in meat and dairy substitutes.

Lidl Belgium in particular has contributed to the growth of the market by permanently reducing the prices of plant-based alternatives to achieve price parity with their meat counterparts, following similar moves in other European countries such as Austria, Denmark and Hungary. Following the price changes, sales of vegan products at Lidl increased by more than 30%.

Product labelling exercises

As regards product labelling, Carrefour systematically uses the official V-label for plant-based products. To help consumers seeking plant-based options, Aldi and Lidl are also increasing the use of this label.

The strengths of Albert Heijn

The supermarket chain has set ambitious targets for expanding its plant-based offer, with the aim of 60% of consumer protein being plant-based by 2030. This includes:

Doubling the number of alternative meat products,
at prices equal to or lower than conventional meat products,
and introducing more than 150 new plant-based products to its current range of over 1,000 products.
The chain’s own brand, AH Terra, includes more than 200 products, a range comparable to that of the largest and most diverse supermarket chains.

The company’s latest sustainability report shows that 44.1% of its protein sales were plant-based last year, compared to 42.6% in 2022. This growth highlights the growing demand for plant-based foods in its key markets of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.