Sattvik Certification has launched 'Buddhist Codex' in Singapore, in its first venture outside the country, to certify vegetarian and vegan food, the firm said.
The firm is working on similar codes which will be launched in the United States and Canada by end of this year, the New Delhi-based firm said.
Sattvik Certification founder Abhishek Biswas said the firm will launch similar codes for vegetarian and vegan foods in Indonesia next month, adding that there was a strong demand for such certified food from an estimated 1.9 billion people who would be consuming plant-based foods by 2030.
"The demand for vegetarian and vegan food is huge across the world and Satvik certification is among a few groups that are taking initiatives to certify food manufacturers and laboratories to assure healthy meals are served," Biswas told PTI at the launch of Buddhist Codex by Sattvik Certifications Singapore Pte Ltd.
Dismissing the notion that plant-based foods are expensive, he said the eventual high medical costs would come from ailments caused by non-vegetarian food.
"Due to its very high per-capita health care costs, the US could save USD 180 billion if the population ate according to recommended vegetarian-vegan guidelines, compared to US$250 billion if the Americans eschewed animal food products altogether," he said.
"An important fact to note is that the additional food that would be produced as a result of a shift to a vegan diet in the US alone could feed 350 million people," Biswas said, citing World Economic Forum (WEF) data.
Further, there is evidence that switching to a vegan diet in the US would save between USD 197 billion and USD 298 billion per year, he said, referring to WEF data.
Biswas said as the vegeterian-vegan industry grows globally, the cost of these healthy foods will come down.
In India, railways caterer IRCTC serves 8,000-10,000 Satvik-certified meals daily in trains like Shatabdi, Rajdhani, and Vande Bharat, he said.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
