According to the study, Auchan is the best Portuguese supermarket in terms of what they offer in vegan products, followed by Continente and Aldi stores, in second and third place respectively.

The association also added in their statement that the “company Jerónimo Martins (Pingo Doce), one of the largest in this sector, refused to participate in this study”.

The RankingVeg project was created by AVP in partnership with the German organisation Albert Schweitzer Foundation, which developed a standardised tool to rank food retailers based on their offer of vegan products.

For the purpose of ranking retailers, the following calculation factors were taken into account: the number of vegan products available, within the relevant categories (eg alternatives to meat, milk, and eggs); and promotional communications made about these products.

“In general, it was possible to verify that the production and marketing of vegan products in Portugal is still in an embryonic state compared to other countries, and there is room for an increase in supply and for an improvement in terms of diversity, quality and price, with a view to meeting the current needs of an increasingly established market niche”, writes APV.

The results of the survey also found that, for the most part (72 percent), consumers of vegan products classify the current offer of this type of products in the Portuguese market as unsatisfactory, and indicate that they would like to see more variety of vegan products on the supermarket shelves.