Protein transition

Global population is growing and average meat consumption is increasing, particularly in emerging economies. In the Netherlands, meat consumption is declining, but there is still intensive livestock farming. A gradual shift from the consumption of animal proteins to plant-based proteins helps reduce pressure on the environment and climate.

Van Loon Group's production and sale of hybrid meat products and (partially) vegetable convenience products.

Van Loon Group is following the consumer in the gradual shift from animal to plant-based proteins, among other things by developing innovative hybrid meat products that are tasty, healthy, sustainable, and affordable.

CEO

Recent years have seen numerous developments in the area of meat substitutes. Nevertheless, this market segment is seeing no growth—in fact, the trend is declining. Consumers still find meat substitutes insufficiently tasty or healthy, and improvement is not likely. Therefore, we made the decision to stop producing meat substitutes at the beginning of 2024.

That doesn't mean we will no longer be producing plant-based products. FiberFort™ fibre, which we originally developed for our meat substitutes, is now being used as a plant-based ingredient in our hybrid products. FiberFort™ fibres are plant-based fibres made from Dutch bean and pea protein. In hybrid minced meat products, we replace a portion of the animal ingredients with the plant-based FiberFort™ fibre. This ranges from 5% to 40% of the final product. In this way, we are directly contributing to the protein transition, which relies on more plant-based products, and reduction of our products’ CO₂ footprint. As a significant added benefit, the taste and texture of traditional meat products are preserved.
This year, the share of hybrid products has increased from 0% to 3%. The target for 2027 is 7.5%.