Renato Pichler is president and CEO of SwissVege. He has been working full-time for Swisswag since 1993 and is one of the founding members of the association. He maintains international collaborations and coordinates V-label internationally.
With his extensive knowledge accumulated over the years, Renato Pichler is a proven expert in the vegan movement. We spoke with Renato about the success and goals of Swissveg, as well as the state of the vegan movement in Switzerland.
What is Swissveg and what does the company stand for?
Since 1993, Swissveg, as a politically and religiously independent organization, has used positive public relations work to permanently reduce meat consumption and promote a plant-based, responsible lifestyle as an attractive and healthy alternative for all.
Who are the members and who can become members?
Anyone who shares our goals is welcome as a member. We have members from all age categories. We are as broad in our membership as our causes: from animal rights activists to environmentalists to health-conscious people, we offer a platform for everyone who thinks that the vegan movement in Switzerland also needs a strong “lobby”. The majority of our members come from Switzerland, as this is where our main focus lies.
Do you want to see success back?
Thanks to Swissveg, Switzerland is one of the few countries where the terms “vegetarian” and “vegan” have been legally defined over the years. In 2019 and 2020, I was also able to contribute to the ISO definitions of these terms. As a result, there is now an official, international definition of “vegetarian” and “vegan”.
At the political level, we were able to achieve, among other things, that the upper limit of vitamin B12 products was withdrawn in Switzerland. This upper limit was medically unsustainable and made it difficult to import products that would otherwise have been approved throughout the European Union.
In addition to this background work, we also organized the first Vegan Street Festival (since 2012) when the vegan lifestyle was not yet so widespread, to bring it closer to the population in a positive way. Today we are the main partner of the biggest vegan events in Switzerland (vegan festival, vegan fair with Veggie-World).
A very successful and important project is still our V-label. We started this international project in 1996. Today it is present in all European countries – and beyond Europe – and facilitates vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. In 2021, it was selected as one of the most popular brands in Switzerland (9th out of 489 labels) in a survey conducted by the Havas advertising agency.
“The vast majority of the Swiss population knows this label.”
All major supermarket chains now rely on clear declarations with our V-label for their food products. The vast majority of the Swiss population knows this label. This is how we brought vegetarian and vegan products from a niche to the mainstream: every major supermarket chain in Switzerland now uses this label to clearly declare their vegetarian and vegan products.
Through our V-label project, we have been able to better connect and thereby strengthen the entire vegan movement internationally. Through regular exchanges with our partner organizations, vegan efforts are also encouraged beyond the V-label project.
What campaign or project are you planning in 2023? What are the most important goals of Swissveg?
A lot has happened in the industry in recent years. We have been able to go with the introduction of vegetarian/vegan product lines and see how these are becoming more and more established. Politics, however, lags far behind.
That’s why we launched the “Contradictions in Swiss Politics” campaign last year. In this campaign, we show how contradictory politics can be when it comes to nutrition. For example, meat advertisements are co-financed by tax money, even though the state itself maintains that three times more meat is consumed than is healthy.
This year we will take up this issue and be significantly involved in the preparation of a federal popular initiative. Politics aims to correct this mismanagement to some extent. Additionally, we will celebrate our 30th anniversary with a major event about the future of nutrition.
How would you rate the situation of the vegan movement in Switzerland? What developments speak for positive change and what challenges must be overcome?
The past years have brought a lot of changes: since not only small start-ups are interested in vegetarian products, but also all large corporations (Nestle has a turnover of 800 million euros in 2022 with meat alternatives) and all supermarket chains have their own vegeline, the work of the vegan scene has also changed. Today, even larger companies are very interested in the vegan movement and a collaboration.
Even environmental and species protection organizations, which used to have a hard time with meat consumption, have now discovered the matter for themselves.
Nevertheless, there are still some areas where the movement is struggling to gain a foothold. Swiss gastronomy is still far from responding to trends. Still in many places – especially in rural areas – well, vegetarianism is difficult.
“More and more farmers want to get out of this system and produce only healthy plant-based food.”
As stated above, there is still much to be done in terms of politics. More than 80% of agricultural subsidies are still spent on animal-based food production. This has changed little since 2007, when we first analyzed subsidies[1].[2] Therefore, many farmers feel compelled – for financial reasons – to continue producing animal-based food. Since Swiss farmers live mainly on tax money (rather than the products they sell), it’s hard to motivate them to convert to vegetarianism until politics puts the brakes on it. Nevertheless, more and more farmers want to opt out of this system and produce only healthy plant-based food.
It is a big advantage that the vegan movement is now getting support from different sectors. Each organization has its own approach and reaches a segment of the population. So they complement each other. At the same time, it is also important to collaborate on some projects. Here I still see great potential but a positive trend.
Switzerland is a very stable, rather conservative country. Changes usually take a little longer here than in other countries. But when they are implemented, the new situation is stabilized again. This requires patience.
Where can interested parties meet you in 2023 (trade fairs, congresses, events, roadshows)?
As mentioned above, you can meet us at most major vegetarian events. In March we will be available at VeggieWorld in Zurich-Oerlikon, then, we have our annual general meeting in Winterthur and at the beginning of June we will have the Vegan Festival directly at the main station in Zurich.
To stay informed about all events and not miss a thing, it is easiest to subscribe to our newsletter: www.swissveg.ch/newsletter.