Dr. Oetker Stories
“Protecting the climate with everyday steps”
People who follow a vegan diet are doing something for the climate, do not harm animal welfare and are eating consciously. But do consumers of convenience products also eat vegan?
2.8.2022 • Sustainability
Marina Landgraf, Masterbrand Manager at Dr. Oetker, explains why Dr. Oetker offers vegan products, where the vegan journey is still headed and why we still have salami pizza in our range and that will not change.
Why does Dr. Oetker offer vegan products?
Marina Landgraf: "The question is rather: How could we not offer vegan products? Consumers are increasingly asking us about plant-based alternatives for their favorite products, about options for vegan preparation and about appropriate recipes. Vegan products are a more climate-friendly option compared to meat- or dairy-based foods, and they improve animal welfare overall. Many people additionally have health aspects in mind. We want to offer them the chance to protect the climate with small, everyday steps and to make a choice for animal welfare. And we hope that this choice for the plant-based alternative will eventually become a natural decision."
If climate protection is so important and vegan alternatives so diverse - why does Dr. Oetker still offer products containing meat?
Marina Landgraf: "We don't make decisions for our consumers - we make them an offer: The opportunity to make a small contribution without giving up delicious indulgent products such as cakes, desserts and pizza. Everyone decides for themselves what they want to contribute. Riding a bike, buying second-hand clothes, eating something deliciously vegan... There are now so many great ways to choose climate and animal welfare."
Wouldn't Dr. Oetker then also have to transparently communicate the impact of its products on the climate - keyword: Product Carbon Footprint?
Marina Landgraf: "We think we have to! An international project team is working on defining a method for us based on internationally recognized standards and then being able to calculate the product carbon footprint for all products. We expect this to happen in 2023. I am very much looking forward to having this information available and thus being able to offer our consumers more transparency about our products."
With the Pizza Margherita Pomodori in Germany, the Pizza Ristorante Rossa alle Verdure Grigliate in Italy and the Ristorante al Salame Vegano in the Netherlands, Dr. Oetker offers vegan options in its Ristorante range. PETA Germany awarded the Margherita Pomodori Pizza with its Vegan Food Award 2022 as "Best Vegan Pizza".
With its oval shape and a special bottom, La Mia Pinsa conquers the freezers. The vegan variety Spinat, Tomaten-Mix & vegane Käsealternative, which was honoured with another PETA Vegan Food Award in 2023, guarantees Italian moments of pleasure of a whole new kind.
The Bistro Baguette in the Spicy BBQ variety with colorful vegetables and a pea protein topping shows how versatile vegan enjoyment can be. Our vegan pizzas and snacks are no longer new - some have become firmly established, which is why we were honoured with the PETA Vegan Food Award for the third time in a row in 2024 with our Bistro Baguette.
Delicious brownies are especially easy to make with the vegan baking mixes from the Netherlands.
Colorful, certified organic and vegan: The Streusel-Spaß Bio from Dr. Oetker in organic quality. The three decorations in different shapes and colors quickly and easily turn any pastry into a colorful highlight. The sprinkles are vegan and come in recyclable tubes.
Many of our baking ingredients are ideal for vegan baking ideas. Dr. Oetker offers its consumers a wide selection of perfect inspirations.
With LoVE it! Dr. Oetker has been offering creamy, delicious, plant-based desserts and vegan baking mixes since February 2021. Both the chocolate and caramel cup puddings and the cup dishes Grießbrei and Süßer Reis are ideal as a snack between meals. With the LoVE it! gelling agent, vegan cake lovers can now also give free rein to their creativity.
In Brazil, too, Dr. Oetker already offers vegan alternatives in the dessert range in three flavours: Strawberry, Pineapple and Grape.
Creme VEGA, Creme VEGA mit Gartenkräutern and Cuisine VEGA are ideal for varied and delicious recipes in plant-based cuisine. Wether savory stir-fry dishes, heaty soups or delicious dips - vegan dishes can be rounded off perfectly. With their creamy consistency, the three products are heat-resistant and therefore fail-safe.
With the new vegan muesli varieties Knusper Apple & White Chunks, Knusper Triple Chunks and Knusper Berry & White Chunks, three plant-based crunchy breakfast alternatives have been added to the Vitalis line from Dr. Oetker. The aromatic rice-based chunks give the mueslis their chocolatey flavour.
Since the end of 2024, Dr. Oetker has been printing instructions for veggie lovers on its Süße Mahlzeiten such as rice pudding or semolina porridge on a plant-based preparation option.
The range of vegan alternatives will continue to grow in the future. Our employees in Research & Development are already working on further, plant-based product innovations.
If plant-based preparations are so central to Dr. Oetker - why isn't every product provided with instructions on how to prepare it vegan?
Marina Landgraf: "Our consumers have a wide variety of interests: some eat a gluten-free diet, others have allergies or pay attention to vegan food preparation. We cannot do justice to all these interests on the packaging. However, continuous labeling with the common vegan labels is being implemented for many vegan Dr. Oetker products and is being made transparent and easy to understand for everyone, at least on the website. In many countries, the consumer service also provides extensive information. And: We are currently enjoying the great experience that users themselves know best how they prefer to replace dairy products and eggs with plant-based alternatives."
Are there limits to product development?
Marina Landgraf: "We are flexible - for us, the focus is always on taste - and what tastes good is decided by the people who eat our products. If we can offer a perfect salami pizza with a meat alternative - wonderful! If the solution is to completely redesign products, also good. If you just take pizza for example, there are so many possibilities for delicious vegan variants: With a cheese substitute, designed without cheese on a tomato basis, with a lot of and perhaps unusual vegetable toppings, with meat substitutes based on pea protein, for example, or with jackfruit. The same goes for cakes and desserts."
What is your favorite vegan product from Dr. Oetker?
Marina Landgraf: "Since 2021 I am only eating plant-based and I can highly recommend our La Mia Pinsa Spinat, Tomaten-Mix & vegane Käsealternative. I would appreciate if our High Protein products would also be available in a vegan variety in future."
For more information please contact:
Katharina Ahnepohl
Media Spokesperson Sustainability