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Maple Leaf Foods – Canada’s leading retailer of packaged meat – is bringing nine new plant-based proteins to the country by way of its recently acquired meat-free brand Lightlife Foods.
Target market
While the move will allow the company to capitalize off of a growing vegan and vegetarian movement, company President Dan Curtin told Farm Journal that the target market is ‘flexitarians’ and ‘reducetarians’.
Curtin says that, having seen massive success with Lightlife Foods in the US, he sees a ‘tremendous opportunity’ in the Canadian market.
Plant-based brands
In addition to Lightlife, a vegan and vegetarian brand, Maple Leaf Foods also owns Field Roast, the fully vegan cheese and meat company it acquired early this year.
According to the company, its foray into plant-based business has positioned it to become a ‘leader’ in the meat-free industry.
Controversy
While some vegans maintain that Field Roast being acquired by meat companies sullies the ethics of plant-based brands, others have argued in favor of increased accessibility.
At the time on Field Roast’s acquisition, one commenter wrote: “Don’t you think that by a larger company acquiring them, they have the ability to distribute on a larger scale and help more people have access to plant-based products?”
