Brazil’s Vegan Scene Explodes in Just Three Years

Food industry outlet Foodnavigator-USA recently spoke with Gustavo Guadagnini, the Brazilian director of non-profit organization Good Food Institute, to gain insight about the plant-based scene in the Latin American country. According to Guadagnini, plant-based companies in Brazil are growing at a rate of 40 percent annually, and cruelty-free products have undergone a massive transformation since 2014—when the only vegan products on store shelves were a powdered cheese mixture and several soy-based alternatives. In 2017, Guadagnini says vegan options include nut-based milk, potato-based cheese, soy-based meat alternatives, and egg-free mayonnaise, made by a variety of brands such as Goshen, Vegabom, Mr. Veggy, NoMoo, and Superbom—a plant-based food supplier with a distribution channel of 25,000 stores. “Companies operating in the plant-based market sector are reporting strong positive growth, and the number of retailers interested in selling these products is increasing dramatically,” Guadagnini said. “From here, it’s just a matter of time before these products are prolific in the whole country.” Currently, Brazil-based JBS (the world’s largest meat company) is embroiled in a corruption scandal for conspiring with health officials to allow rotten meat that the company adulterated with acid to be sold to the public. Last week, the parent company of JBS was fined a record $3.2 billion, an amount that puts a damper on Brazil’s meat industry during a time when plant-based products continue to boom.