Jumbo Supermarkets has announced that it will match the prices of its own-brand meat substitutes to the comparable animal-based variant.

The European supermarket chain, which has stores in the Netherlands and Belgium, said that the initiative is in line with its ambition to encourage a more plant-based diet. The company wants 60% of the proteins it sells to be plant-based by 2030 at the latest.

Jumbo’s own-brand meat substitute range consists of dozens of products including vegetarian chicken pieces, vegan minced meat and various types of burgers.

The supermarket chain said that it recognises that price is a barrier for consumers to choose meat substitutes, and is lowering the prices of its meat alternatives range, which until this week was more expensive than traditional animal-based counterparts, to make choosing plant-based and vegetarian easier.

Products that already had an equal or lower price than the comparable meat product will not change in price.

Anrico Maat, retail director of Jumbo, said: “In addition to affordability, taste is often a determining factor. That is why we continuously work on improving and expanding the plant-based range. Recently, research by ProVeg found that a number of our plant-based private label products are positively assessed for their nutritional values.”

Several other European supermarkets have also made similar moves in recent months, recognising the need to make plant-based alternatives more affordable for consumers.

European chain Billa dropped the prices of its own-brand plant-based Vegavita range earlier this month following the opening of a new 100% plant-based store in Austria, making more than 50 Vegavita products the same price or cheaper than the non-vegan alternatives.

Lidl in Germany was also celebrated for matching the price of its Vemondo range to its animal-based counterparts as well as placing them in the immediate vicinity of meat variants, aiming to make it easier for consumers to find alternatives to their favourite meat products.

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