In case you didn’t know, the product Volkswagen makes the most of in any given year isn’t a car, but a German pork sausage called currywurst. However, this will no longer be the case.
On August 20, Volkswagen made the decision to get the pork sausage out of its German factories’ canteens, replacing them instead with vegetarian and vegan options. It’s part of a mission to help keep its employees healthier and end the car company’s dependence on factory-farmed meat.
According to the U.N., livestock accounts for nearly 15 percent of all human-originating greenhouse gas emissions. By contrast, the European Environment Agency reports that the transport sector contributed to 27 percent of total EU emissions in 2017, so those sausages are anything but insignificant.
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In order to find alternatives that will not only ease the burden on the environment but taste good, too, VW has enlisted the help of Nils Potthast, a Michelin-starred chef and Head of Gastronomy and Catering at the automaker’s service factory. VegNews reports that 48 of VW’s cafeterias across Germany have already started serving a plant-based currywurst.
Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, which serves around 60,000 employees per day, will replace all meat-based items with plant-based products instead, like burgers with jackfruit- and eggplant-based patties.
“This topic is really important to me personally: the food in our VW canteens. It is getting better and healthier,” VW CEO Herbert Diess said on LinkedIn. “To date, over 400 new recipes have been developed and tasted. Less meat, more vegetables, better ingredients—a huge step forward, much more contemporary. Good food is important, it is crucial for the health, the mood and thus also for the productivity of the employees.”
Not all onlookers are content with the decision, though. Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schroder bemoaned the decision. Also taking to LinkedIn, the 77-year-old wrote: “A vegetarian diet is good, and I do it myself in phases […] But basically no currywurst? No.”