Ritter Sport Debuts Its First Vegan-Certified Bars

German confectionary company Ritter Sport released its first two fully vegan chocolate bars. The new vegan-certified flavors—one made with quinoa and the other with amaranth—contain Nicaraguan cocoa and replace dairy with hazelnut cream. “The ‘normal’ supermarket chains now also have organic and vegan products, and not just in a corner,” Ritter press representative Thomas Seeger said, adding that vegan products in Germany are now placed “side-by-side with the normal ones.” The new chocolate bars are only available in Germany, and the company plans to develop at least two more flavors in the near future. The growth of veganism in Germany is undeniable, so much so that it poses a threat to the meat and dairy industries—as evidenced by agriculture minister Christian Schmidt’s recent attempt to diminish competition to the animal agriculture industry by proposing to ban vegetarian meat alternatives from using the term “meat” on their labels. Ritter Sport currently offers several “accidentally” vegan options that are not labeled as such, because they are produced on the same equipment as products that contain milk.