German News website Spiegel claimed that Veganz, the Germany-based vegan supermarket chain, had filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
The article stated that the supermarket chain ‘which completely forgoes animal products, has failed’.
‘Fake news’
Other articles quickly followed, including a VICE article, titled ‘The World’s First Vegan Supermarket Chain Just Went Bankrupt’.
Veganz responded on facebook, calling the article ‘fake news’.
“Whoever has put this bullsh*t out to the world would certainly NOT win a prize for good journalism,” Veganz added.
Instead, the company has ‘launched a plan for insolvency proceedings in only one of six Veganz retail companies’.
The co-owner of the new London-based vegan supermarket GreenBay, Paula Alcalde, said that the journalism was ‘misleading and lazy’ and ‘can do incredible damage to current vegan businesses’.
In the UK, vegan food sales have increased by 1500% in the last three years, and the number of vegans has increased by over 360% in the last decade.
Likewise, Veganuary, the popular British vegan campaign, saw a threefold increase in the number of signups this year relative to 2016.
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