Liver sausage firm moves into vegetarian burgers

DutchNews, August 10, 2015

Photo: Zwanenburg.nl

One of the Netherlands’ biggest meat processing companies has moved into vegetarian food, Trouw reports on Monday. 

Zwanenberg Food, which makes liver sausage and other meat products, has launched a corn burger, beetroot burger and a pea and bean burger on the Dutch market, the paper says. 

The company, which books annual sales of some €350m, says it has noted that meat consumption is declining in the Netherlands and that it does not expect further growth ‘given attitudes in society’. 

Rather than opt for meat replacements, Zwanenberg has chosen to process vegetables because ‘the Dutch don’t eat enough greens’. ‘Less than 5% of Dutch adults eat enough vegetables,’ spokesman Tjeerd van der Laan told Trouw. ‘That got us thinking. Could this be something for us?’ 

The company’s veggie burgers are sold via Jumbo supermarkets, contract caterers and Ikea, Trouw says. Zwanenberg is now developing burgers made of celeriac, cauliflower, carrot and tomato.