Since its launch 12 months ago, a report detailing 50 plant-based foods has been recognised by world-leading organisations, including at United Nations events, as a force for change.
The Future 50 Foods – created by Knorr and WWF – has gained support from NGOs, media, retailers and chefs across the world, and played a significant role in putting dietary diversity front of mind.
Since its launch in February 2019:
• The Future 50 Foods has been recognised for addressing the United Nations ‘Zero Hunger’ Sustainable Development Goal 2.0, with Knorr invited to address the Food & Land Use Coalition’s event during the United Nations General Assembly
• 350 of the world’s most influential chefs have pledged to showcase the wealth of under-utilised plant-based ingredients highlighted by Future 50 Foods in their future menus
• The Future 50 Foods has been held up by the World Economic Forum, FOLU (Food & Land Use Coalition) and Chefs’ Manifesto as a force for good in promoting bio and dietary diversity
• Global food services and catering company Sodexo has committed to introduce Future 50 Foods ingredients into 5,000 kitchens across workplaces and organisations in the United States, France, Belgium and the UK, with plans to roll them out to a further 10 countries this year
• Supermarket giant Carrefour has committed to introducing Future 50 Foods stations with dish ideas and package-free ingredient dispensers to encourage customers to get more adventurous and environmentally conscious with their cooking
With 73% of global consumers keen to change their consumption habits in order to reduce their environmental impact (Nielsen, 2018) and 70% looking to reduce their meat consumption (Global Data, 2018) the Future 50 Foods report has given momentum to a global movement.
Four examples of how Future 50 Foods is making a tangible, positive impact:
• In Indonesia the Nutrimenu programme with Future 50 Foods at its heart was launched in partnership with the government and local NGOs to tackle major nutrition imbalances in the country
• In Mexico more than 900 teachers have been educated in using Future 50 Foods ingredients to help give 50,000 students the skills to cook nutritious meals with a low environmental footprint for their families
• An innovative partnership between Knorr, WWF and smallholder farmers in drought-struck regions in South Africa is seeing more viable and sustainable indigenous Future 50 Foods crops such as fonio and Bambara groundnuts being widely cultivated again. These new, more diverse crops will not only be brought into Knorr’s supply chain, but will also boost smallholders’ incomes, create a more reliable local food source and significantly reduce the environmental footprint of local food production.
• In Germany, a simple switch from beef to lentils (a Future 50 Foods ingredient) in Knorr Bolognese has reduced the product’s CO2 footprint by 83%
April Redmond, Global Brand VP, Knorr, and a Forever Food Champion, commented, “The depressing global environmental and health challenges faced by humanity today seem to many to be impossible to overcome, but at Knorr we believe that food is the single most powerful way to improve our health and the health of the planet.
“By 2025 we commit to increasing the number of Knorr products featuring Future 50 Foods by 25%. Over the next two years, 25 new Future 50 Foods-based products will launch across our top 10 countries, with much of that innovation coming out of the Hive, Unilever’s new €85M innovation centre in the Netherlands.”
