Belgian supermar­kets struggle with the shift to plant-based food

Belgian supermarkets still mainly promote meat and dairy in their flyers. For every plant-based offer, there are nine promotions for meat or dairy. Yet some chains are taking steps to support plant-based and hybrid products. The findings come from Questionmark's Superlist Environment Belgium 2026 report.

Plant-based options remain limited

Only 6% of the prepared meals on store shelves contain no animal-derived ingredients. The figures for meals and promotions have changed little since 2022. Questionmark assessed Belgium's five largest supermarket chains in collaboration with Rikolto.

Pricing and shelf placement

At Lidl, certain plant-based alternatives cost the same as their animal-based counterparts. The chain also places plant-based alternatives next to animal-based products. Lidl, Colruyt and Delhaize are also focusing on hybrid products. Hybrid products combine animal-based and plant-based ingredients.

At Colruyt, the share of plant-based offers within promotions for protein-rich products increased. It rose from 5% in 2022 to almost 25%. The report finds little progress at the other supermarkets.

According to the report, chains are not implementing these strategies consistently across the board. The approach does not adequately target consumers who are not actively seeking more plant-based food.

Progress is hard to compare

Progress in the shift toward plant-based proteins is also difficult to compare. Supermarkets use different methods to calculate the ratio of animal-based to plant-based proteins. For some targets, the data needed to assess progress is missing. As a result, it is not always clear whether a supermarket is on track.

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