ProVeg International

• New Food Conference: the New Food Conference organised by ProVeg is an international event focusing on plant-based and cultured products developments. The first edition took place in Berlin in March 2019.[2][3][4][5]

• Vegan Summerfest: In cooperation with Berlin Vegan and the Albert Schweitzer Foundation, ProVeg is the main host and co-organiser of the annual Vegan Summerfest (German: Veganes Sommerfest), a three-day vegan food festival that takes place on the Alexanderplatz in Berlin. The 2019 edition featured around 100 information and selling stands.[6]

• VegMed: ProVeg hosts VegMed, an annual international medical congress on plant-based diet. It is aimed at physicians, medical students, healthcare professionals, as well as scientists and related disciplines. In 2019, the sixth edition was held in London, the first VegMed outside Germany.[7]

• Smart Protein: In October 2019, ProVeg International was awarded funds to carry out Smart Protein, an EU-funded project including over 30 partners to develop commercially viable plant-based products from underutilised raw materials. From 2020 to 2024, ProVeg assesses markets for the Smart Protein targeted-proteins ingredients and food products by investigating consumer acceptance and trust towards innovative and new plant-based products.[8][9]

• V-label: In Germany, ProVeg International is responsible for licensing the V-label, an international label that certifies vegetarian and vegan products.[10]

• European Consumer Survey: ProVeg International launched a European Consumer Survey on Plant-Based Foods, which surveyed over 6,000 consumers across nine European countries to identify priorities for products improvement and development. 76% of participants identified as plant-based eaters, while the other 24% called themselves reducers. The survey's first report, published in June 2020, amongst other things found that participants were primarily interested in increasing the availability of plant-based cheese in supermarkets; additionally, reducers wanted to see more plant-based ready meals and meat replacements, while plant-based eaters were more interested in plant-based baked goods and chocolates.[11][12]

• Pandemic report: In July 2020, ProVeg published the Food & Pandemics Report, stating that intensive animal farming is the most dangerous man-made cause of pandemics and epidemics such as COVID-19, Ebola, SARS and MERS, all of which are zoonotic. As slaughterhouses are particularly vulnerable to infection and forced shutdowns, this also disrupts the food supply chain that humans rely on for survival. The report, citing various scientific experts and organisations, concluded that fundamental changes in the current global food system would be necessary to prevent future pandemics. The report received support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with doctor Musonda Mumba saying increased interactions between humans, wild animals and farmed animals have created unprecedented opportunities for pathogens to spread. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) chief Tamas Bakonyi nuanced some of the report's findings, adding that intense human global travelling (especially in groups), human overpopulation, deforestation, land use, the transportation of goods and other factors played key roles in causing pandemics as well.[13][14][15]

• Plant Powered Pupils : ProVeg launched its Plant Powered Pupils programme in 2016, supported by the German health insurance company BKK ProVita.[16] The programme aims to empower children and adolescents by educating them about the impact of their food choices through interactive cooking workshops.[17]

• Climate-Efficient School Kitchens : Climate-Efficient School Kitchens is a joint project between ProVeg and the Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment (Institut für Zukunftsstudien und Technologiebewertung, IZT), which provides free training for kitchen staff, trainee chefs, and caterers in ways to prepare sustainable, low-cost, healthy meals in public schools. This features ingredients such as plant-based, low-carbon-footprint alternatives to meat, as well as energy-saving kitchen appliances.[18]

• School Plates: ProVeg launched the School Plates programme in the UK in June 2018 with the goal of making primary school menus healthier.[19]

The European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development proposed prohibiting meat and dairy names for plant-based alternatives (such as 'vegetarian sausage' and 'soy schnitzel'), as these were allegedly 'confusing'[20] in May 2019. ProVeg International fought this proposal. On 8 October 2020, it co-signed a letter to Members of the European Parliament asking to vote down the proposal, alongside IKEA and Compassion in World Farming.[21] ProVeg also ran a petition to prevent this intended 'veggie burger ban'. According to Pablo Moleman (ProVeg Nederland), consumers want to know what they buy, and references to products they are already familiar with give customers 'relevant information about taste, texture and application that they can expect from a plant-based product'. Within three days, the petition received over 16,000 signatures.[22][23] In December 2019, Dutch Medical Care Minister Bruno Bruins, as part of the 'Food Labelling Action Plan', decided that these 'meat names' would remain permitted in the Netherlands as long as it is clear to consumers that it is a vegetarian product; this meant that the meat industry was not given a monopoly on words such as 'burger, schnitzel and smoked sausage'.[24] By 15 October 2020, the petition attracted over 150,000 signatures.[25] Vice-chair Jasmijn de Boo told The Guardian: '[the ban] is clearly nonsense. Just as we all know there is no butter in peanut butter, consumers [buying veggie burgers] know exactly what they're getting. These proposals are in direct contradiction of the EU's stated objectives in the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy to create healthier and more sustainable food systems.'[26]

On 23 October 2020, the European Parliament voted against the 'veggie burger ban' for meat replacement names, but did pass a restriction on plant-based dairy alternative names, so that 'yogurt-style' or 'cheese-alternative' could be prohibited in the future, in addition to the already-banned names including 'almond milk' and 'vegan cheese'. De Boo welcomed the rejection of the veggie burger ban, but 'deeply regretted' the dairy ban, stating: 'It is inconceivable to us just how the European Parliament could take such different positions on such similar proposals.'[27]