Unilever Is Ramping Up Dairy-Free Treats to Join Sea Salt Caramel Bars

Unilever's Vegan Sea Salt Caramel Magnum recently won PETA’s Best Vegan Ice Cream Award for 2021 and it seems like the company isn't stopping there with the dairy-free treats. The food giant’s ice cream features a sea salt caramel ice cream base dipped in a completely vegan chocolate shell. Following PETA’s Vegan Food Awards, the multinational company claimed that it will work to expand its plant-based ice cream selection.

“Breaking news. Or should we say cracking chocolate news!” the company wrote online. “We’re launching more plant-based products to create a future-fit ice cream portfolio that helps reduce the environmental impact of the global food supply chain.”

The food company won the award once prior at the 2019 awards. PETA announced that Unilever’s Classic and Almond vegan Magnums was the victor of the Vegan Food Award. Since then, the company has continued its vegan development, enhancing its line of vegan ice creams and food as the demand for dairy-free ice cream increases.

A report from Data Bridge discovered that the plant-based ice cream market will reach $805 million in the next six years. The data report went on to say that the industry will grow at 10.3 percent in the project forecast period 2020-2027. The growth is attributed to a rising plant milk industry as well as higher levels of consumer lactose intolerance and allergies.

Several plant-based food giants including Tyson, Perdue, and Cargill have recognized the growing plant-based market, dedicating their business models to creating numerous plant-based foods to match conventional products. Unilever last year set its annual global sales target for plant-based meat and dairy at $1.2 billion.

Earlier this year, Unilever CEO Alan Jope admitted that the plant-based market is rising and soon the industry and countries globally will have to change. He claimed that “every single country in the world is shifting towards more plant-based diets.” Unilever is determined to meet the consumer demand and profit off of the rising plant-based industry.

“As you’ll know there is a secular trend toward us all eating a little more of a plant-based diet and we see all our vegetarian and vegan offerings growing very quickly,” Jope said. “The first thing we’re concerned to do is to make sure that our big brands like Knorr and Hellmann’s have got attractive plant-based offerings. So that’s really the main course.”

Unilever is also responsible for Ben & Jerry’s growing selection of plant-based ice-creams. Using both sunflower butter and almond milk, the brand has released 17 dairy-free ice creams to the market. The overwhelming success has pushed Unilever to expand to its other brands, making plant-based ice cream a priority for the food company.