GIKI’S PLANT BASED BADGE GOES LIVE

Giki’s new Plant based badge is here by popular demand. It is one of the most frequent requests we get from the Giki community and if you are looking for ways to cut your environmental impact in 2020, replacing some or all of the meat in your diet with plant based food is an excellent way to start. Over 23,000 products out of the 280,000 in our database get the plant based badge in the Giki app, so there is a decent choice now in UK supermarkets if you want to go plant based.
Why Now?


Why Plant Based?


- A diet which is mainly plant based reduces carbon emissions by around 40% compared to a typical UK diet as well as using less land and less water. This is partly because a high proportion of the carbon emissions from a typical UK diet come from meat, especially beef and lamb.
- It is also because land for animals and animal feed accounts for 77% of all agricultural land but just 18% of the calories.
How does the badge work?

For the badge itself a green badge is awarded to products which meet at least one of our two criteria.
Criteria 1: Fruit, vegetables, grains and pulses are automatically awarded the badge based on their category (i.e. all of these products come from plants!). However, we have also added an ingredient checker which looks for animal products just in case they are still found in some products. It should always be noted that with so many products, ingredient names and data quality issues that there is always a risk that some animal products or derivatives are missed. As a result users should always read the ingredients list if there are particular ingredients that they are choosing to avoid.
Criteria 2: For other foods, of which processed food makes up a large component, we award the plant based badge to any product which is classified as suitable for vegans by the manufacturer or which had been independently certified. In particular we look for certification by the Vegan Society. A small number of drinks, predominantly tea and coffee, are also covered.
You can read more about our recent app updates here.
You can use the plant based badge to help support a more sustainable, animal friendly diet. Plant based foods generally have lower carbon emissions, use less land and less water and are kinder to animals.