Research Shows Chicken Meat Doubles Climate Impact of Vegan Meat

VFC has provided an independent audit of its vegan meat products in an effort to promote openness around sustainable consumption and climate impact.

The research by Mondra was commissioned by Matthew Glover, who co-founded VFC in the UK in 2020. Mondra analyzes supply chain data to identify how the food industry’s actors affect the environment.

Mondra compared VFC’s vegan fried chicken filets to animal-based southern fried chicken filets in its investigation. In the United Kingdom, both items are manufactured and sold in supermarkets.

The group determined that animal-based goods have double the climatic effect as plant-based alternatives, gram for gram. Furthermore, traditional meat used 24 times the amount of freshwater and had a 20-fold detrimental impact on biodiversity.

Mondra said that if the UK’s meat-eating populace chose VFC Filets instead of southern fried chicken for only one meal a week for a year, it would result in a variety of environmental advantages.

Mondra estimated that 99.8 million showers worth of water would be saved. In addition, 9.3 tons of methane would not be released, and the emissions from driving a car for 73.2 million miles would be avoided.

Finally, the investigation found that 3.8 million hens might be spared.

The Data

VFC’s Glover urged meat companies to follow suit by disclosing their own environmental statistics in a statement.

“We know that the meat industry is causing significant and widespread damage to our climate, waterways, wild spaces, and wild animal populations. Their commitments so far amount to little more than tinkering with the existing system, and that’s not good enough… We need these companies to be honest about their impacts, and then to expand their investment in, and their production and promotion of, meat-free foods,” Glover said.

“We created VFC specifically to spare the lives of animals, but, as an ethical company, we also wanted to understand how our products impact the planet… So, to achieve an A grade across the entire range of VFC is fantastic news, and shows once again the powerful impact we can have when we choose vegan foods over animal-based foods,” he added.

VFC can be found at Tesco stores around the UK, as well as on their website.

Source: “Chicken Meat Has Twice The Climate Impact Of Vegan Version, Analysis Shows” by Plant Based News

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