San Diego’s sister city Edinburgh just signed the Plant Based Treaty, doing its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture by promoting a shift to vegan eating, so PETA sent a letter to Mayor Todd Gloria this morning with a tasty proposal: If he follows suit by also signing the treaty—which would help protect animals, the planet, and residents’ health—PETA will host a giveaway of crispy vegan fish tacos with all the trimmings.
“There are over a million potential vegans in San Diego, and each person who goes vegan saves nearly 200 animals a year and slashes their carbon footprint,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “San Diego’s name on the Plant Based Treaty would be a win for the city, the planet, and everyone who wants to live a healthier, more energetic, and longer life, and PETA would help the city celebrate with a fish-friendly feast and free vegan starter kits.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Gloria follows.
January 30, 2023
The Honorable Todd Gloria
Mayor of San Diego
Dear Mayor Gloria:
I’m writing with a request from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally, including tens of thousands in San Diego—and everyone who is or is thinking about going vegan, whether for humane, environmental, religious, or health reasons. San Diego’s sister city Edinburgh just endorsed the Plant Based Treaty, which is designed to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture.
As Edinburgh Councillor Steve Burgess said, “Plant-rich diets are also a ‘win-win-win’ for society,” as they spare sentient animals horrific deaths in slaughterhouses and help protect both the environment and human health.
Wouldn’t it be terrific if San Diego, hailed as the greenest city in the U.S., followed that lead and encouraged vegan living? What do you say? We’d be happy to hold a giveaway of 100 tasty vegan fish tacos in town if you agree!
The most effective eco-friendly initiative would be shifting to plant-based foods. According to a study from New York University, “[D]rastically shifting agricultural production from animals to plant-sourced foods could remove more than a decade of our carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere.” Each person who eats vegan only one day a week saves about 1,100 gallons of water, nearly 40 pounds of grain, and 30 square feet of forested land each day. Endorsing the Plant Based Treaty would do a world of good for the city, the planet, and its inhabitants.
There’s another extremely compelling reason to endorse vegan eating: Our understanding of other species has evolved. Pigs, cows, chickens, and other animals commonly killed for food are smart, sensitive individuals who feel pain, love, joy, grief, fear, and loneliness. Yet most of them are raised on filthy factory farms, where they endure severe crowding and routine mutilations, such as castration and tail docking—often without any pain relief—before being sent on a terrifying journey to the slaughterhouse and a violent death. Each person who opts for tasty vegan meals and snacks can spare nearly 200 living, feeling beings this miserable fate each year.
Other cities around the world, including Los Angeles and Boynton Beach, Florida, here in the U.S., have already endorsed the Plant Based Treaty. We hope you’ll join them. Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.
Despite multiple warnings from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, the JBS slaughterhouse in Ottumwa continues to rack up reprimands for the repeated abuse of pigs, and new reports document a worker beating pigs with a paddle and a pig continuing to struggle after their throat was slit. In response, PETA fired off a letter today to JBS USA CEO Tim Schellpeper calling on him to livestream video footage from the slaughterhouse to help put an end to the persistent violations.
The new reports reveal pigs found with paddle marks, hemorrhaging, and other evidence of abuse, including on August 8, when a worker was seen striking pigs with the edge of a rattle paddle—which is intended as a noise-maker to be used with “minimal contact”—while unloading the animals from a trailer. The inspector notified slaughterhouse staff that the paddle should never be used in this way, but reports record signs of continued beatings and other violations, such as on August 10, when an inspector discovered a pig whose throat had been slit still moving and gasping for air while shackled upside down.
“This facility is hell on Earth for animals, where thousands of pigs have endured painful beatings and another was conscious after her throat was cut,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on this facility to livestream its slaughter operations publicly and reminds everyone that the only humane meal is a vegan one.”
Federal documents previously obtained by PETA revealed multiple instances of workers beating pigs. After an agent raised the issue of excessive paddle use, a worker replied that the practice of beating pigs “will never go away.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Schellpeper follows.
January 30, 2023
Tim Schellpeper, CEO
JBS USA
Dear Mr. Schellpeper:
Given the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports detailing a worker beating pigs on August 8, 2022, the discovery of a conscious pig hanging on the bleed line the very next day, and more problems at JBS’s slaughterhouse in Ottumwa, Iowa, we ask that you immediately change operations there in order to reduce animal suffering.
A long history of alarming incidents at the facility underscores the need for significant changes. Last January, a federal agent saw a truck driver “striking several hogs on the back with … force” and a worker “raise his rattle paddle … over his head and strike [pigs] with great speed.” In February, a JBS worker was “contacting … hogs with [a] rattle paddle … further increasing agitation …. The hogs were vocalizing.” In March, a truck driver was spotted “striking numerous hogs … eliciting loud vocalizations from the hogs.” Days later, a JBS worker “continue[d] to contact [a pig] with the paddle as [he] was slowly trying to walk …. By the time [the inspector reached the pig] the animal was … stressed, laying down and breathing heavily.”
Between September 27, 2021, and September 30, 2022, USDA staff found that the remains of more than 15,000 pigs slaughtered at JBS bore “paddle marks” and other “evidence of implement misuse,” including hemorrhaging. These discoveries were made on approximately 177 different days. During the first shift alone on October 22, 2021, damage to the bodies of 1,050 pigs suggested such abuse. A few days later, a federal agent “voiced … concerns with the excessive use with the paddles when driving hogs.” Apparently, a JBS worker replied that such use—and ensuing wounds on animals—“will never go away.”
Will you please publicly livestream video from all areas of this facility where live animals are handled? Workers might take their duty to handle animals lawfully more seriously if they knew caring people were watching. At the very least, will you reassign the staff referenced in the federal reports to jobs that don’t involve having contact with any live animals and report the involved personnel to Wapello County Attorney Reuben Neff for investigation for possible violations of the state’s anti-cruelty statute? Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Daniel Paden
Vice President of Evidence Analysis
Cruelty Investigations Department
Following a recently published U.S. Department of Agriculture report revealing that a Pilgrim’s Pride worker hurled two live chickens against a wall—one after the other—leaving the birds stunned and apparently unable to stand, PETA fired off a letter today to District Attorney David Colley calling on him to investigate and file applicable criminal charges against the person responsible.
According to the reports, on July 5 a federal inspector at the Pilgrim’s Pride slaughterhouse in Mount Pleasant witnessed a worker forcefully throwing chickens into a wall about 5 feet away, with each bird bouncing roughly 1 to 2 feet “off the wall from the force of momentum.” After falling to the floor, the chickens appeared startled but did not stand up. The incident was captured on the facility’s video footage, and Pilgrim’s Pride management identified the worker.
“If anyone hurled dogs or cats against a wall, they would face charges of cruelty to animals, and chickens suffer the same way and are also protected by law,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling for a criminal investigation into the horrific treatment of these birds, who feel pain and fear every bit as much as the animals who share our homes.”
Previous federal reports obtained by PETA reveal a pattern of violations at Pilgrim’s Pride slaughterhouses. Between April and September 2021, the company was warned 17 times—more than any other U.S. poultry operation during the same period—for the mistreatment of birds, including birds drowned in scalding-hot water at the Mount Pleasant facility, thrown “aggressively” at shackles by a worker, and left to die slowly in a fallen container filled with hundreds of live chickens.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Colley follows.
January 30, 2023
The Honorable David Colley
District Attorney
76th Judicial District
Dear Mr. Colley:
I’m writing to request that your office (and a local law-enforcement agency, as you deem appropriate) investigate and file applicable criminal charges against the individual responsible for throwing two live chickens against a wall, with remarkable force, at the Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation slaughterhouse located at 1000 Pilgrim St. in Mount Pleasant. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the incident in the attached report, which the agency just made available to the public.
According to the report, on July 5, 2022, an FSIS inspector saw a worker throw two live chickens against a wall approximately 5 feet away, “one after the other.” According to the federal agent, each bird “bounced off the wall from the force of momentum,” traveled another 1 to 2 feet in the opposite direction, and fell to the floor. “Each bird visibly roused but did not stand up when hitting the floor,” according to the report. Pilgrim’s management evidently reviewed video footage that the company had captured of the incident and identified the worker in question.
This conduct does not represent the otherwise-exempt “generally accepted and otherwise lawful … agriculture practice involving livestock animals” and thus may violate Texas Penal Code § 42.09. Please note that FSIS’ simple report on the matter carries no criminal or civil penalties and doesn’t preempt criminal liability under state law for cruelty to animals. Thank you for your time and consideration and for the important work that you do.
Following a recent federal report documenting that a pig whose throat had been slashed was found screaming and thrashing in a tank of scalding-hot water before her throat was slit again at Robert Winner Sons Inc. in Yorkshire, PETA fired off a letter this morning to the facility’s owner, Brian Winner, calling on him to livestream video footage from the slaughterhouse in order to help prevent additional egregious violations of law. The group also asked him to report the workers involved in the incident to local law-enforcement officials and reassign those individuals to positions that don’t involve having contact with live animals.
PETA points out that previously at the slaughterhouse, a cow remained standing after being shot in the head, revealing a pattern of botched killings and animal suffering happening on Winner’s watch.
“This disturbing report shows that a pig endured the agony of having her throat cut before being dumped into scalding-hot water as she screamed in pain,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is urging Robert Winner Sons to livestream its slaughter operations and reminds everyone disturbed by this pig’s suffering that we can all help keep animals out of slaughterhouses in the first place by going vegan.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org; follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram; or listen to The PETA Podcast.
PETA’s letter to Winner follows.
January 30, 2023
Brian Winner
Owner
Robert Winner Sons Inc.
Dear Mr. Winner:
Given the recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report detailing that a pig whose throat had been cut was discovered screaming and thrashing in a tank of scalding-hot water before her throat was slashed again at Robert Winner Sons Inc., we ask that you immediately alter operations there in the hope of reducing animal suffering in your slaughterhouse. The fact that a cow remained standing after being shot in the head in a November 2021 incident at your facility underscores the need for changes.
Will you please publicly livestream video from all areas of the facility where live animals are handled? Workers would take their duty to handle animals lawfully more seriously if they knew that caring people were watching. As the world’s foremost expert on livestock welfare, Dr. Temple Grandin, writes, “Plants [t]hat are doing a good job should show what they are doing.” Your industry often complains that today’s consumers don’t understand how animals are raised and killed for food. You could help by enabling us to observe your workers moving countless individual animals—who value their lives as we value ours—off crowded trucks in all weather, attempting to stun them, slashing or sticking their throats, and bleeding them to death.
At the very least, will you reassign your staff responsible for these animals’ suffering to jobs that don’t involve having contact with any live animals—such as evisceration, butchering, and packaging—and report the involved personnel to your local law-enforcement agency for investigation for possible violations of the state’s anti-cruelty statute?
Vegan sushi, anyone? We aren’t just talking avocado and cucumber rolls: With so many delicious new vegan products constantly entering the market, chefs are getting creative with ingredients like plant-based tuna, vegan salmon, mushroom scallops, and more to satisfy those sushi cravings without harming animals. Once you learn a few things about fish, you’ll opt for vegan sushi, too.
Many fish used for food are forced to live on aquafarms, where they’re confined to cramped enclosures with little room to move and kept in filthy conditions. Commercial fishing (including wild-caught fishing) is one of the main contributors to the destruction of the ocean and the animals who live there. So next time you’re craving sushi, make the right decision for animals and the planet and check out one of the restaurants below for some stellar vegan sushi.
Shojin keeps the foodies of Los Angeles coming back for more. This romantic date-night destination has locations in Little Tokyo and Culver City. Ask anyone who’s been there, and they’ll say, “You must try the Dynamite Roll!”
Shojin Dynamite Roll: Spicy vegan tuna and avocado roll with slightly torched spicy oat cream, served with dynamite sauce
Pirates of Crunchy: Crunchy garbanzo beans and tempura flakes mixed with spicy oat cream on an avocado, cucumber, and shiso herbs leaves roll, served with dynamite sauce
Purple Treasure 5.0: Tender, buttery eggplant on an asparagus-carrot roll, topped with sweet miso and ichimi pepper
This Michelin-listed upscale Japanese restaurant offers a fully plant-based menu in a beautiful setting. The presentation is top-notch and makes for great Instagram photos.
Mobile vegan sushi? Sign us up! The Plant Lab serves delicious fish-free sushi all around the Los Angeles area from its food truck. To add to the fun, a lot of the rolls have science-themed names like “Marie Curie” and “Edison.”
Pi Roll: Shrimp tempura and spicy snow crab, topped with salmon, avocado, crispy onions, and mayo
Galileo Roll: Snow crab, cucumber, avocado, and cream cheese, topped with tempura flecks, red caviar, and eel sauce
Jalapeño Roll: Jalapeño, snow crab, avocado, and cream cheese in rice and sesame, wrapped with seaweed, then deep fried and topped with crispy onions, eel sauce, and spicy mayo
Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Toronto
Note: All vegan
With multiple locations, this restaurant offers plant-based sushi that uses unique ingredients such as watermelon and hearts of palm for healthier, compassionate versions of some classics.
Tucked away in a strip mall on the outskirts of the San Fernando Valley, this unassuming spot has some truly decadent vegan sushi rolls and an extensive menu. Its vegan cheesecake is a must-try.
This beautiful Park Avenue restaurant offers a wide variety of rolls and also has delicious vegan desserts, such as dairy-free tiramisu and an iced green tea float.
Located in a strip mall in the Las Vegas suburbs, this modest space serves up some great vegan sushi alongside other Japanese classics such as ramen and teriyaki chicken rice.
Note: Not all vegan, but it has a dedicated vegan menu
Located less than 2 miles from the Sam Simon Center, PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Kotobuki offers a number of rolls with vegan lobster, shrimp, and salmon. It even has a “PETA Roll”!
If none of these places are close to you, don’t worry! Check your local Japanese restaurant for some classic veggie roll options, or you can get creative at home and make your own vegan sushi. There’s no legitimate excuse to eat sensitive fish who feel pain and have complex social networks just as humans do. Remember, fish, crabs, and other aquatic animals aren’t seafood— they’re sea life.
Because Starbucks agrees that animal-friendly vegan milks are better for the planet than dairy milk but insists on charging extra for them, PETA supporters will be outside the chain’s Elmwood Avenue location on Sunday to intercept would-be customers with free RISE Brewing Co. vegan lattes made with creamy oat milk. The action comes after nearly 150,000 PETA supporters asked Starbucks to end its vegan upcharge.
When: Sunday, January 29, 8:15 a.m.
Where: Starbucks, 933 Elmwood Ave. (near W. Delavan Avenue), Buffalo
“Starbucks is counting its beans when it should be counting the number of customers it will lose if it doesn’t end the vegan milk upcharge,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “People who choose to drink responsibly for the sake of animals or their own health or because they know that dairy farming is fueling the climate catastrophe are angry with the company for placing profits above ethics.”
PETA has also held vegan coffee drink giveaways outside Starbucks locations in Cincinnati; Cleveland; St. Louis; Loveland, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and numerous other cities.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
Things are getting meaty over at Meati as the mycelium mushroom meat producer opens a large-scale production facility it says can rival the output of conventional animal farms.
Following a Series C funding round that brings Colorado-based Meati’s capital raise to more than $250 million, the mycelium meat company announced the opening of a ‘mega ranch’ in Thornton, Colo., capable of producing ‘tens of millions of pounds’ of the company’s vegan meat per year.
“Investors and consumers recognize that Meati is a new, differentiated food,” Tyler Huggins, CEO and co-founder of Meati Foods, said in a statement. “They only need to read our simple ingredient list and taste Meati to recognize that this is the cut-through option people have been waiting for — something they absolutely see weekly if not daily on their plates.”
Mega Ranch
The company first announced its plans to open the 80,000-square-foot ranch in 2021, following its $50 million Series B funding round. Meati says the Mega Ranch will rival the output of the largest animal-based operations in the U.S. A vertically integrated approach brings growing, harvesting, processing, and packaging in-house to the ranch. The company anticipates a $1 billion run rate in sales by 2025.
Meati chicken | Courtesy
“Our belief that nature already has the answer to many of today’s challenges allowed us to unlock a new food with Meati at a time when consumers are demanding something different and better,” Huggins said. “Meati delivers an unparalleled food with its taste, texture, nutrition, and purity, and we’re thrilled to open this first phase of the resource-efficient ‘Mega Ranch’ facility to help even more consumers add it to their diets.”
Using just a teaspoon of mycelium spores, Meati says it can produce protein equivalent to “hundreds of cows” in just a few days’ time at a fraction of the resources. This, the company says, creates a “nearly infinitely scalable platform.”
‘A seismic shift in how we eat’
“The next few years will see a seismic shift in how we eat, and Meati’s state-of-the-art, scalable production capabilities coupled with its focus on meeting consumer needs for clean, whole-food protein position the brand to lead,” said Fazeela Abdul Rashid, Partner at Revolution Growth and member of the Meati Foods board.
Courtesy Meati Foods
“Tyler and the team have a vision for a new food category with pure ingredients and taste that doesn’t compromise. We are excited to continue working with them to reach the next level and bring Meati to more consumers across the U.S.,” Rashid said.
Meati says its current lineup of products, which includes the Classic Cutlet, Crispy Cutlet, Classic Steak, and Carne Asada Steak, are all being produced at the Mega Ranch. The popular products continue to sell out online within minutes of launching, the company says. Meati has earned praise from Momofuku founder David Chang, former White House senior policy advisor for nutrition, Sam Kass, and Sweetgreen founders Nicolas Jammet and Jonathan Neman.
Following a just-released U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report that documents workers leaving over 1,200 chickens on trailers to die of apparent heat stress over two days at the Birdsboro Kosher Farms Corp. slaughterhouse, PETA sent a letter this morning to District Attorney John T. Adams calling on him to investigate and file appropriate criminal charges against those responsible.
According to the report, on July 18, 2022, an inspector first notified staff of concerns for over 20,000 chickens held on trailers there, given the “increasing heat of the day.” More than two hours later, as birds were “panting” and dying at an “increased” rate, the inspector alerted staff again to the risks. Despite the USDA “continually” expressing concerns to Birdsboro, about 1,230 chickens died. PETA’s letter notes a pattern of violations at the slaughterhouse. On July 26, 2021, around 250 chickens also died of apparent heat stress at Birdsboro, and that same day, a worker reportedly picked up chickens by their necks and “flung” them into cages. On September 9, 2021, the USDA found at least 200 dead chickens on a trailer, where just one of eight to 10 birds was still alive in severely crowded cages.
“Chickens have been repeatedly left to die in sweltering trailers, and others were tossed around without thought or care,” says PETA Vice President of Evidence Analysis Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling for a criminal investigation on behalf of all the animals who have suffered egregiously at this chronic offender.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—points out that chickens, turkeys, cows, sheep, and other animals feel pain and fear and value their lives, just as humans do. The group is pursuing charges under state law because federal officials haven’t prosecuted any inspected slaughterhouses for acts of abuse since at least 2007.
For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Adams follows.
January 25, 2023
The Honorable John T. Adams
Berks County District Attorney
Dear Mr. Adams:
I’m writing to request that your office (and the local law-enforcement agency, as you deem appropriate) investigate and file applicable criminal charges against those responsible for leaving nearly 1,500 chickens to die of heat stress and flinging others into cages at Birdsboro Kosher Farms Corp., located at 1100 Lincoln Rd., near Birdsboro. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the latest incidents in the attached report, which the agency just made available to the public.
According to the reports, on July 18, 2022, at about 11 a.m., an FSIS inspector first notified Birdsboro personnel of concerns about approximately 20,220 chickens held on trailers there, given the “increasing heat of the day.” More than two hours later, as birds were “panting” and dying at an “increased” rate, the FSIS inspector reiterated these concerns. Of the approximately 9,900 birds ultimately slaughtered on that day, 8.5% of them—some 772 chickens—were found to have died on the trailers. Of the 3,128 further chickens held overnight at Birdsboro into July 19, 14.7% of them—an additional 459 animals—were found dead that day. In sum, about 1,230 chickens died in trailers over the two days of apparent heat stress, even though FSIS staff “continually” expressed concerns to Birdsboro.
Similarly, on July 26, 2021, approximately 250 chickens died of apparent heat stress at Birdsboro. That day, the temperature approached 90 degrees, and a facility representative told FSIS that “some of the trucks … waited too long” in the heat at the slaughterhouse. The same day, a Birdsboro worker reportedly picked up chickens by their necks and “flung” them into cages. On September 9, 2021, FSIS staff found at least 200 dead chickens on a trailer, where just one of eight to 10 birds was still alive in severely crowded cages.
This conduct may violate 18 Pa.C.S. § 5533 and 18 Pa.C.S. § 5532. Please note that FSIS’ simple report on these matters carries no criminal or civil penalties and doesn’t preempt criminal liability under state law for cruelty to animals. Thank you for your time and consideration and for the important work that you do.
Dévore Food, the Frech plant-based meat startup founded by conventional meat lovers, has released its first products.
More than two years of development have delivered with Dévore says are meat analogs that offer improved taste, texture, and performance. The first products on offer are Nugs and Strips, which the company says are both more affordable than organic chicken.
A new, responsible way of eating
“We wanted to offer a new responsible way of eating based on clean food, in line with our values,” co-founder Eugénie Le Dressay said in a statement. “Products to be devoured without any complexes, with your eyes closed!”
Le Dressay co-founded Dévore with entrepreneur Vasco Duarte Ribeiro two years ago after assessing their conventional meat consumption.
Dévore Foods is bringing plants to meat-loving France | Courtesy
Despite France’s long history as a meat-eating nation, a growing number of French people have begun reducing their consumption of meat and other animal products. Data from 2021 found nearly half of French citizens have reduced their meat intake in the last three years.
Le Dressay says the made-in-Fance vegetarian meat from Dévore is rich in protein just like conventional meat but low in saturated fat as well as providing a good source of dietary fiber. The co-founder points to the company’s lower environmental footprint, too, which Le Dressay says is “three times less energy-consuming than chicken,” in terms of CO2, water pollution, and land mobilization.
Accessible analogs
“It was important for us to make our products accessible to make life easier for people who want to reduce their meat consumption, whether they are flexitarians, teenagers who have the munchies, or parents who don’t have the time to cook. Cheaper than a free-range chicken and just as generous, our products are good for everyone: tasty and balanced for humans, respectful of animals and sustainable for the planet,” says Ribeiro.
Burger King has embraced vegan bacon from France’s La Vie | Courtesy
Dévore’s launch comes on the heels of a number of plant-based launches in France. Last summer, HappyVore nabbed $36.8 million along with France’s largest vegan meat production facility. Last February, French supermarket chain Carrefour opened what it says was the first vegan butcher counter in the country. And the Natalie Portman-backed La Vie has seen its vegan bacon become a mainstay at Burger King locations across Europe.
The first two Dévore vegan chicken products are now available via the company’s website, in select grocery stores and markets, and through foodservice channels.
Canada’s Sensible Hot Dogs has gone public on the NEO Exchange and raised nearly $12 million in non-brokered private financing for its plant-based hot dogs.
Sensible took its plant-based hot dog business public last month, launching on Canada’s NEO Exchange in late December under the ticker “HOTD.” Now the company says it has raised more than $11 million for its expansion plans.
Disrupting the hot dog market
“Sensible has attracted start-up capital to fuel its food innovation and go-to-market strategy,” Shawn Balaghi, Sensible’s CEO said in a statement. “The Company is well capitalized to launch its operations with goals to disrupt the hot dog market. We’ve taken out all the not-so-great ingredients from the hot dog that are infamously mysterious and created a healthier and tastier frank. The revolution in nutrition, taste, and reduced environmental impact starts with us,” he said.
Sensible’s hot dogs include the Classic and a Cheesy version both made from ingredients including mushrooms, bean protein, wheat protein, and root vegetables.
Balaghi called last month’s launch on the NEO Exchange a significant milestone for Sensible, specifically as the company looks to leverage the capital markets to fuel its growth. “After thoroughly reviewing all of the potential options to list in Canada, we are convinced that listing on the NEO Exchange, a senior stock exchange, best raises our profile among retail and institutional investors and provides a platform from which to expand our shareholder base as we execute our growth and value creation plans,” Balaghi said.
Sensible has listed on the NEO Exchange | Courtesy
Sensible is fueling its growth to target the increasing demand for hot dogs. According to The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Americans consume about 20 billion hot dogs every year, with 95 percent of Americans eating about 70 hot dogs per year.
Data from market analysis firm Statista found that more than 255 million hot dogs were consumed in 2020 and an estimated 261 million will be consumed in 2024 — just in the U.S.
That brings the market value to nearly $600 million in 2022 — a 20 percent YoY increase. Globally, the hot dog market is expected to reach nearly $2 billion by 2032. Plant-based hot dogs are seeing sales increases, too; the vegan meat market sector is expected to grow to $15.7 billion by 2027, up from $7.9 billion last year.
“The current meat, dairy, egg, and seafood industries from source to sale cause tremendous suffering, are highly unsustainable, and contribute to a wide range of lifestyle diseases. Sensible aims at a healthier, more sustainable, and more humane food option for consumers,” said Balaghi.
Processed meat
Conventional hot dogs have another problem, too. They aren’t healthy. Recent research found processed meats such as hot dogs can reduce life span by nearly 40 minutes. Those findings, published in 2021 in the journal Nature Food, were based on an index designed to calculate the net benefits or detriments of food. It was modeled after a study called the Global Burden of Disease, which looked at the morbidity associated with certain foods.
“For example, 0.45 minutes are lost per gram of processed meat, or 0.1 minutes are gained per gram of fruit. We then look at the composition of each food and then multiplied this number by the corresponding food profiles that we previously developed,” Olivier Jolliet, professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan and senior author of the paper, told CNN in 2021.
Sensible is targeting the booming hot dog market | Courtesy
“The index is primarily there to help aid in selecting and using calories consumed on a daily basis to tweak a minimum of habits and make the minimum of change to obtain a maximum benefit for health and the environment from our food experience,” he said.
Vegan processed food comes with consequences, too, according to another 2021 study. But the benefits of avoiding animal meat continue to be significant, the research found. It split subjects into four groups, and the group with the higher avoidance of animal-based food in their diet saw the greatest nutritional quality.
Following a just-released U.S. Department of Agriculture report revealing that turkeys suffocated to death after being shackled upside down at the Cargill Meat Solutions slaughterhouse in Dayton, PETA fired off a letter this morning to Rockingham County Commonwealth’s Attorney Marsha L. Garst calling on her to investigate and file applicable criminal charges against those responsible.
According to the report, on September 14 a federal official discovered that up to 40 male turkeys had been left hanging for up to 90 minutes with their legs clamped in the shackles typically used to convey birds through the slaughter line. Up to 10 of the birds had suffocated to death, and the survivors were gasping for air and flapping their wings so frantically that their bones had broken. Just five days later, an inspector found a distressed, gasping turkey with visibly broken bones trapped under a transport trailer’s tire. In the time it took the inspector to look for a staffer to assist, the bird died.
“If someone left dogs to die under a truck or hanging from shackles, they would rightly be facing criminal charges, and these turkeys were also living, feeling beings protected by law,” says PETA Vice President of Evidence Analysis Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on the commonwealth’s attorney to investigate and bring appropriate charges and reminds everyone that the only kind meal is a vegan one.”
PETA points out that turkeys, chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, and other animals feel pain and fear and value their lives, just as humans do. The group is pursuing charges under state law because federal officials haven’t prosecuted any inspected slaughterhouses for acts of abuse and neglect such as those at Cargill Meat Solutions—the third-largest turkey-killing company in the U.S.—since at least 2007.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Garst follows.
January 24, 2023
The Honorable Marsha L. Garst
Rockingham County Commonwealth’s Attorney
Dear Ms. Garst:
I’m writing to request that your office (and a local law-enforcement agency, as you deem appropriate) investigate and file applicable criminal charges against the individuals responsible for leaving turkeys hanging upside down to slowly suffocate to death—and fatally running over another turkey—at the Cargill Meat Solutions slaughterhouse located at 135 Huffman Dr. in Dayton. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the incidents in the attached report, which the agency just made available to the public.
According to the report, on September 14, 2022, an FSIS inspector found up to 40 male turkeys hanging upside down by their legs from the shackles normally used to convey birds through the slaughter line. FSIS personnel discovered that these animals had been hung up in that manner approximately 90 minutes earlier—and then left that way as a work shift ended. Up to 10 of the birds had died “from secondary asphyxia due to hanging and unable to right themselves.” Several survivors were “gasping for air” and flapping their wings so rapidly that their bones had broken.
Five days later, FSIS staff found a turkey in “distress” and extending his neck to gasp for air, trapped by his legs and torso under a tire on a trailer used to haul birds. Two broken bones jutted from the bird’s right wing. An FSIS inspector immediately attempted to find Cargill staff to assist the bird “to no avail” and then discovered that the bird had died.
This conduct does not represent the otherwise-exempt “farming activities” and thus may violate Code of Virginia § 3.2-6570. Please note that FSIS’ simple report on the matter carries no criminal or civil penalties and doesn’t preempt criminal liability under state law for cruelty to animals. Thank you for your time and consideration and for the important work that you do.
Vitamins including B12 and D are critical for health. But they’re most often sourced from animals, which is not ideal if you follow a vegan diet. Here’s how to get them from alternative sources.
A growing body of research suggests that following a whole-food, plant-based diet is one of the healthiest ways to live. This diet—which is associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases, like cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease—relies on a rainbow of fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, seeds, and nuts. This means it is a rich source of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, all of which are vital for optimal nutrition. But, like any diet, it is not perfect.
There are some vitamins that can only come from animals or are more difficult to get from plants, which may require supplementation depending on your individual health needs. To help you figure out what you may or may not want to consider supplementing, here, we take a closer look at some of the nutrients that (mostly) come from animal sources. But before you make any major personal dietary changes, it’s always best to consult with a nutrition or health professional first.
Essential vitamins and their vegan sources
Another thing to keep in mind is that, while vegan versions are available, many supplements themselves contain animals. According to research from Terraseed, a vegan multivitamin brand, more than 50 percent of supplements on the market contain at least one animal ingredient, which results in the slaughter of around 24 billion animals every year. So, remember: always do your research first before you buy.
1. Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12, which is also known as cobalamin, is essential because it helps our bodies to form red blood cells and DNA, and it’s also important for nerve function. When we don’t have enough, it can lead to symptoms like fatigue and memory loss, and even nerve damage and anemia. Our bodies don’t make B12, and the biggest dietary sources of the vitamin are animal-based; they include fish, shellfish, liver, red meat, and poultry. But it is also possible to find B12 in fortified plant-based cereals and milk, as well as nutritional yeast and, of course, supplements, which come in tablet, gummy, or spray form. In fact, the overall vitamin B12 market size is valued at around $266 million. Vegan brands include Live Conscious, Future Kind, and Mykind Organics.
Collagen is often sourced from farm animals like cows | Courtesy of Unsplash
2. Collagen
Unlike vitamin B12, our bodies do make collagen, which is a protein that makes up connective tissue. However, as we get older, this production drops, and it shows in our skin. We start to develop wrinkles, joints become more fragile, and the skin begins to sag. In a bid to boost their collagen, some turn to supplements, which contain collagen from animals like fish, pigs, and cows. Because, like us, all animals have collagen in their connective tissue.
The collagen market is huge, and by 2028, it is predicted to hit nearly $17 billion. But it is possible to find plant-based supplements that help with collagen production. In fact, this market is growing too, and it’s expected to hit nearly $6 billion by the end of this year. But it’s important to note, these supplements, which are offered by brands like Rae Wellness and Myprotein, don’t contain any actual collagen. Instead, they work by blending vitamins and minerals that may promote our own collagen production. You can also find these nutrients in food. Legumes, nuts, and seeds, for example, contain zinc, a mineral that helps to protect our body’s collagen.
3. Vitamin D3
Vitamin D is essential for bone health, as it helps to regulate calcium and phosphate. When we don’t have enough vitamin D, this can result in symptoms like insomnia, bone aches, depression, and hair loss. In children, it may also lead to rickets, which is the softening of bones.
One key source of vitamin D is sunlight, which means that, in the summer, most people get enough. But in the winter, particularly in countries with low levels of light, it becomes more difficult. Animal foods, like fish, red meat, liver, and egg yolks, do contain vitamin D, and vegans can also get it from fortified foods, like cereal and nutritional yeast.
Many also choose to supplement vitamin D, which is represented in the growth of the market, which hit more than $1 billion in 2021. But it’s important to note that different types come from different sources.
Vitamin D2, for example, can come from vegan sources, but vitamin D3 supplements are often sourced from lanolin, which is essentially the grease from sheep’s wool. However, The Vegan Society notes that it is possible to obtain vegan D3 supplements, and these are usually made with lichen. The composite organism from algae and fungi is one of the only plant sources of the vitamin. Brands offering vegan vitamin D3 include Myvegan and Together Health.
Feeling fatigued may be a sign of vitamin deficiency | Courtesy of Unsplash
4. DHA
DHA (long name: docosahexaenoic acid) is an omega-3 fat that supports the health and function of our brains and eyes. While our bodies make a small amount, it isn’t enough in itself, so we also need to make sure we’re getting more from dietary sources. If we don’t have enough DHA, it can result in symptoms like fatigue, poor memory, depression, joint pains, and bad circulation. The main food sources of DHA are fatty fish, like tuna, sardines, and herring. But vegan supplements do exist, most of which rely on algae oil as their primary ingredient. The overall supplement market, which includes products made with algae, as well as fish oil products, is worth more than $2.5 billion. For vegan options, try brands like Myprotein and Omvits.
5. Carnosine
Carnosine is a dipeptide molecule that we produce naturally in our muscle tissue and brain. Recent research has suggested that because of its antioxidant properties, carnosine may help to protect against certain chronic diseases, like Alzheimer’s and heart disease. Studies into supplementation are still ongoing, but despite this, the market is growing. In 2021, it was valued at $25 million.
In food form, carnosine can be found in animal sources, like beef and fish. It is not possible to consume carnosine in plant-based foods. But, per the Vegetarian Times, supplementing beta-alanine—which, alongside histidine, is one of the amino acids that make up the molecule—may result in higher levels of carnosine in the body. Myvegan offers a Bata-Alanine powder.
Vegetology’s Phytodroitin is “a plant-origin alternative to chondroitin.” | Courtesy of Vegetology
6. Chondroitin
We all have chondroitin, a structural component of cartilage, naturally in our bodies. But in supplement form, it is sometimes used to treat osteoarthritis, a condition that affects the joints and causes them to become stiff and painful. The market is significant and is currently worth more than $1 billion. This is because some research suggests that taking extra chondroitin in this way may help to prevent cartilage from breaking down. That said, it is not an established medical treatment.
Most chondroitin supplements on the market contain beef or shark cartilage. But some brands claim to have created vegan alternatives. Vegetology, for example, makes Phytodroitin, “a plant-origin alternative to chondroitin.”
7. Taurine
Taurine is an amino acid with many different roles in the body. It helps to regulate calcium, for example, as well as create bile salts for digestion and support our immune systems. Our bodies produce taurine naturally, so deficiency is rare. But some research suggests that having extra taurine may help to improve exercise performance and could also help to manage blood pressure and diabetes. This is partly why the market is growing and is expected to reach $472 million by 2029. That said, studies are ongoing.
Key dietary sources of natural taurine are all animal-based and include meat and seafood. But synthetic taurine is often vegan and can be found in many supplements on the market. Examples of brands offering vegan taurine include Solgar and Cytoplan.
Following a recently obtained U.S. Department of Agriculture report revealing that approximately 3,200 chickens died when a trailer crashed at the Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in Wilkesboro, PETA fired off a letter today to District Attorney Tom Horner calling on him to investigate and file applicable criminal charges against those responsible.
According to the reports, on July 1 approximately 4,200 chickens were inside a trailer that overturned in the slaughterhouse’s driveway. Nearly 3,200 birds died, either on impact, from suffocation during the 90 minutes it took workers to right the trailer, from workers flipping cages from the truck with a forklift, or from being crushed underneath cages.
“Thousands of chickens experienced terrifying deaths in a trailer crash and its aftermath, and those who didn’t die immediately were trapped and suffered for up to an hour and a half,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling for a criminal investigation into the horrific fates of these birds and urges anyone disturbed by this incident to go vegan.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Horner follows.
January 23, 2023
The Honorable Tom Horner
District Attorney
34th Prosecutorial District
Dear Mr. Horner:
I’m writing to request that your office (and a local law-enforcement agency, as you deem appropriate) investigate and file applicable criminal charges against the individuals responsible for killing nearly 3,200 chickens in a trailer crash and its aftermath at the Tyson Foods Inc. slaughterhouse located at 704 Factory St. in Wilkesboro. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the incident in the attached report, which the agency just made available to the public.
According to the report, on July 1, 2022, an FSIS inspector “observed a trailer that had overturned … with approximately 4,200 birds in it.” The inspector determined that approximately 3,177 chickens died on impact and that it took Tyson personnel 90 minutes to right the trailer. Birds died slowly of suffocation, while others were killed when Tyson staff were “flipping cages from [the] truck via forklift and … crushing the chickens under the cages.”
This conduct does not represent the otherwise-exempt “activities conducted for the primary purpose of providing food for human … consumption” and thus may violate N.C.G.S. § 14-360. Please note that FSIS’ simple report on the matter carries no criminal or civil penalties and doesn’t preempt criminal liability under state law for cruelty to animals. Thank you for your time and consideration and for the important work that you do.
Because Starbucks agrees that animal-friendly vegan milks are better for the planet than dairy milk but insists on charging extra for them, PETA supporters will gather outside the chain’s location near Rouge Park on Wednesday to intercept would-be customers with free RISE Brewing Co. vegan lattes made with creamy oat milk. The action comes after nearly 150,000 PETA supporters asked Starbucks to end its vegan upcharge.
When: Wednesday, January 25, 8 a.m.
Where: Starbucks, 9504 Telegraph Rd., Redford
“Starbucks is counting its beans when it should be counting the number of customers it will lose if it doesn’t end the vegan milk upcharge,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “People who choose to drink responsibly for the sake of animals or their own health or because they know that dairy farming is fueling the climate catastrophe are angry with the company for placing profits above ethics.”
PETA has also held vegan coffee drink giveaways outside Starbucks locations in Cincinnati; Loveland, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and numerous other cities.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
Taiwan’s new climate bill, the Climate Change Response Act, includes sweeping legislation aimed at achieving the country’s 2050 net-zero target. Chief among its requirements: promoting a low-carbon, plant-based diet.
The new bill, which passed the legislature earlier this month, aims to establish a carbon-free system for the country’s largest emitters.
Climate Change Response Act
The Climate Change Response Act enforcement, set to begin early next year, will be led by the Executive Yuan’s National Council for Sustainable Development, which is charged with coordinating with the central government and stakeholders to develop action plans including collecting carbon fees on both direct and indirect emissions and a tax on imports of carbon-intensive products.
The carbon fee system will see monies go to a Greenhouse Gas Management Fund used to subsidize corporate investments in carbon-reducing tech. It will also support costs connected to local government climate policy enforcement.
The bill also requires the promotion of low-carbon diets. Two Articles, 8 and 42, address the imperative of promoting a plant-based diet — a big shift for Taiwan’s meat-heavy culture.
Taiwan’s new Climate Act mandates the support of plant-based diet by government entities | Photo by Vernon Raineil Cenzon via Unsplash
Article 8 says the Council of Agriculture must promote low-carbon diets including plant-based food, locally produced food, and food waste reduction efforts. Article 42 expands to all levels of government, requiring them to promote low-carbon diets as a means of fighting climate change. It also requires governments to support civil society organization events relevant to low-carbon diets.
The measure has earned praise for addressing food’s role in climate change mitigation — the agriculture sector produces about 33 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. But others are calling for the Climate Act to be more aggressive about animal meat. The United Nations’ IPCC has repeatedly urged world leaders to look at shifting government recommendations toward more sustainable plant-based diets.
“As the world comes to grips with the importance of food systems in addressing climate change, we are delighted to see an emphasis on low-carbon diets in Taiwan’s climate legislation” said Wu Hung, chief executive of EAST, the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan.
“In light of this development we call on the Executive Yuan to re-visit its 2050 Net Zero Emissions Pathway and Strategy and take steps to address excessive meat consumption,” he added.
Edinburgh signs the Plant-Based Treaty
Taiwan’s Climate Act came just days before Edinburgh, Scotland, announced it had signed on to the Plant-Based Treaty, becoming the first European capital to join the initiative. The proposed treaty has been signed by more than 20 municipalities, including 15 in India, Haywards Heath in the U.K., as well as Los Angeles, California.
Edinburgh is the first European capital to sign the Plant-Based Treat | Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash
“Green councillors very much welcome the decision by Edinburgh council to endorse the Plant Based Treaty as we proposed,” said Green Councillor Steve Burgess, who first introduced the Plant Based Treaty to a Full Council Meeting in March 2022. “Edinburgh council’s leader will now be writing to the First Minister of Scotland to encourage the Scottish Government to also express support for a Plant Based Treaty to be negotiated at a global level.”
The Treaty is aimed at reducing food-related emissions generated by the animal agriculture sector including deforestation.
An impact assessment report released by Edinburgh found that diets high in plant protein and low in meat and dairy “make for lower greenhouse gas emissions, and that consequently, shifting consumption towards plant-based diets has a major mitigation potential,” reads the report. “Overall, the science is clear, meat and dairy consumption must reduce to achieve climate targets.”
Germany-based Veganz has secured a license for its patented vegan milk printing process.
Veganz Group AG — Europe’s only multi-category vegan food provider — has partnered with U.S.-based Vitiprints LLC to bring its newly patented two-dimensional (2D) printed milk to market.
2D milk
Veganz says the partnership will allow it to produce a market-ready line of vegan milk that is environmentally friendly by reducing the package volume and eliminating water usage, which reduces shipping weight by more than 90 percent.
The new milk will be packaged in plastic-free packaging at a CO2 reduction of more than 75 percent and a 53 percent reduction of other greenhouse gases compared to the impact of typical plastic milk containers, the company says. More than 380 million tons of plastic are made every year, and most of it is not recycled.
Veganz says the new patented tech increases the shelf life of its milk to more than two years.
Courtesy Pixels
The milk is printed into quick-dissolving sheets, discs, or pads made from oat, almond, or soy, which the company says can be mixed in a standard blender or dropped directly into coffee and tea as a stand-in for conventional creamers. Veganz says the 2D milk is free from added sugar, gluten, fillers, and preservatives. It will roll out consumer-facing products as well as food service options.
“The Vitiprints license for printed milk alternatives will allow us to leverage a leading-edge printing technology, helping us address consumer needs in a healthy, green and sustainable way, while at the same time enabling us to expand our portfolio of products into new target markets,” Jan Bredack, founder and CEO of Veganz Group AG, said in a statement. “We are incredibly excited that our new printed products will offer environmentally superior, great tasting and even heathier alternatives that our customers look for in every Veganz product they purchase.”
Andrew Ferber, Chairman of Vitiprints, says the innovative new process will enable Veganz not only to produce a superior tasting product, “but will dramatically reduce the standard milk footprint at retail and beyond,” Ferber said. “We look forward to working together and introducing the Vitiprints technology in Europe with a great partner like Veganz and introduce an all-new standard in the food and beverage marketplace.”
‘Rising consciousness of food sustainability’
Veganz announced its plans to IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (VEZ) late in 2021, with the goal of using those funds to support innovative tech to develop new products such as the printed milk.
Veganz delivers products across categories | Courtesy
“With ten years of experience, Veganz is a ‘first mover’ in the plant-based food market.,” Bredack said at the time. “[We] offer a highly innovative product range that is able to satisfy consumers’ needs from breakfast to dinner,” he said.
“We see a positive momentum for purely plant-based food products driven by several trends like the rising consciousness of food sustainability and for animal welfare,” Bredack said.
Veganz products are sold around the world and include a range of categories including frozen ready meals, meat and cheese successors, and confectionery products.
Following a whistleblower tip, PETA has just obtained U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) records revealing that more than 2,000 chickens froze to death inside tractor-trailers carrying them to Lincoln Premium Poultry near Fremont in December—the latest in a string of transport-related horrors at the exclusive supplier to Costco. In response, the group fired off a letter today to the facility’s director of administration, Jessica Kolterman, calling on her to livestream video footage from all of the company’s contract haulers’ trucks and contract factory farms and from the slaughterhouse to help prevent additional egregious suffering.
On December 22 and 23, temperatures near Fremont dipped to 15 degrees below zero, with wind chills tumbling to minus 50 degrees. Despite this, chickens were hauled across Nebraska in tractor-trailers. On December 23 alone, a USDA supervisor determined that at least 2,070 chickens had died in “the extreme cold,” describing the birds as “rigid,” “frozen,” and with their “heads and necks cocked abnormally.”
“Chickens are sentient beings, not commodities, and they should never be exposed to excruciating subzero temperatures,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on Lincoln Premium Poultry to livestream all its operations publicly and reminds everyone that the only humane meal is a vegan one.”
Previous USDA reports obtained by PETA reveal a pattern of horrific deaths at Lincoln Premium Poultry. Last summer, 1,000 chickens were “consumed” by “huge flames” and another 1,500 were injured and eventually killed after a tractor-trailer carrying them caught fire. In 2020, at least 1,622 birds were found dead after being held in severely crowded crates on trucks overnight without food or water.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Kolterman follows.
January 19, 2023
Jessica Kolterman
Director of Administration
Lincoln Premium Poultry
Dear Ms. Kolterman:
Given U.S. Department of Agriculture records that detail how thousands of chickens froze to death while being transported on December 22 and 23, 2022, to Lincoln Premium Poultry—and that your supervisors told a federal agent that the company’s gas stunning operations were malfunctioning, potentially causing the survivors pain—we ask that you immediately implement changes in the hope of reducing chicken suffering in your growers’ sheds, during transport, and at the slaughterhouse.
Underscoring the need for changes are the facts that 1,000 chickens were “consumed” by “huge flames”—and another 1,500 were injured and eventually killed—after a tractor trailer carrying them caught fire last June and that more than 30,000 chickens were crated without food or water in January 2020, killing at least 1,622 of the birds.
Will you please publicly livestream video from all areas of your operations where live chickens are handled? Your contract factory farmers, contract haulers, and slaughterhouse workers would take more seriously their duty to handle and transport animals lawfully if they knew caring people were watching. As the world’s foremost expert on livestock welfare, Dr. Temple Grandin, writes, “Plants [t]hat are doing a good job should show what they are doing.”
Your industry often complains that today’s consumers don’t understand how animals are raised and killed for food. You could help by enabling us to observe all your growers, transporters, and other workers handling millions of individual chickens—who value their lives as we value ours—in sheds, crating and hauling them on crowded trucks in all types of weather, attempting to stun them, slashing or sticking their throats, and bleeding them to death.
At the very least, will you report those drivers responsible for these latest cruel deaths to the Nebraska State Patrol for investigation for possible violations of the state’s Livestock Animal Welfare Act? Thanks for your consideration.
Because Starbucks agrees that animal-friendly vegan milks are better for the planet than dairy milk but insists on charging extra for them, PETA supporters will be outside the chain’s 1650 Margaret St. location on Saturday to intercept would-be customers with free RISE Brewing Co. vegan lattes made with creamy oat milk. The action comes after nearly 150,000 PETA supporters asked Starbucks to end its vegan upcharge.
When: Saturday, January 21, 11:30 a.m.
Where: Starbucks, 1650 Margaret St. (near Riverside Avenue), Jacksonville
“Starbucks is counting its beans when it should be counting the number of customers it will lose if it doesn’t end the vegan milk upcharge,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “People who choose to drink responsibly for the sake of animals or their own health or because they know that dairy farming is fueling the climate catastrophe are angry with the company for placing profits above ethics.”
PETA has also held vegan coffee drink giveaways outside Starbucks locations in St. Louis; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Loveland, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and numerous other cities.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
Because Starbucks agrees that animal-friendly vegan milks are better for the planet than dairy milk but insists on charging extra for them, supporters of PETA and NJ Animal Save Movement will be outside the chain’s location at 1290 Hooper Ave. on Sunday to intercept would-be customers with free RISE Brewing Co. vegan lattes made with creamy oat milk. The action comes after nearly 150,000 PETA supporters asked Starbucks to end its vegan upcharge.
When: Sunday, January 22, 12:45 p.m.
Where: Starbucks, 1290 Hooper Ave. (near Oak Avenue), Toms River
“Starbucks is counting its beans when it should be counting the number of customers it will lose if it doesn’t end the vegan milk upcharge,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “People who choose to drink responsibly for the sake of animals or their own health or because they know that dairy farming is fueling the climate catastrophe are angry with the company for placing profits above ethics.”
PETA has also held vegan coffee drink giveaways outside Starbucks locations in St. Louis; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Loveland, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and numerous other cities.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
Texas startup Crafty Counter has launched its flagship product, an entirely vegan hard-boiled egg made from nuts at Whole Foods grocery stores across the country.
Crafty Counter, an Austin-based consumer packaged goods company, has launched Hard Boiled WunderEggs, the first plant-based hard-boiled eggs to be made in the U.S., are now available in ready-to-eat six packs at Whole Foods stores nationwide and on the company’s website.
These WunderEggs are crafted with closer-to-earth ingredients that the company says “are kind to bodies and the planet.” Recently awarded ‘Best New Meat or Dairy Alternative’ at the 2022 Expo West NEXTY Awards, these nut-based eggs are delicious and free of seven of the top eight allergens. They look, feel and taste like chicken eggs, offering a wholesome alternative with natural ingredients like cashews, almonds, and coconuts.
Crafty Counter was founded in 2018 by Hema Reddy, a former IBM executive, with the goal of helping people eat more plants. The female- and BIPOC- owned company has since evolved and emerged into the plant-based scene, launching WunderBites in 2020 in select locations of Sprouts, Target, and Thrive Market. Each Crafty Counter product is made using simple ingredients and manufacturing process innovation, and lately, cutting-edge food science.
2023 marks the company’s strategic pivot into focusing solely on developing plant-based egg offerings to address the gap in a category that the company says needs more innovation and variety. The brand will dedicate its early-stage startup resources to penetrating a nascent and ripe-for-disruption category.
WunderEggs, Courtesy Crafty Counter
According to data by Data Bridge Market Research, the global plant-based egg market is projected to reach 11.89 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 28%. Crafty Counter intends to position itself as an innovator and market leader in the category while staying true to its founding mission of introducing more plants into a consumer’s diet. The company is set to expand its plant-based egg offerings with additional retailers throughout 2023, with the promise of creating additional line extensions.
Kevin Goradia, an early investor in Crafty Counter said in a statement: “It has been a pleasure watching first-hand all the hard work the team at Crafty Counter has put in to keep innovating with a steadfast focus on solving the needs of that mindful consumer who is looking for sustainable products that are better for them and the environment. The time to act and play our role in slowing down climate change is now, we have no time to wait!”
Crafty Counter is committed to introducing more plants into consumers’ diets and intends to position itself as an innovator and market leader in the plant-based egg category.
Courtesy Eat Just
Compared to plant-based meat, seafood and dairy, there are far fewer plant-based egg startups.
Eat Just, the California-based global market leader of plant-based eggs in terms of sales made waves recently with a full-page advertisement in the New York Times with the tagline ‘plants don’t get the flu’ in reference to the avian flu outbreaks that has caused egg shortages across the US. The company offers both a chilled plant-based liquid egg replacer and a frozen plant-based pre-cooked egg omelet patty alternative.
With health and wellness technology in the limelight, we’ve seen plenty of devices that benefit animals: Microchips have helped us reunite with lost companions for decades, and now there are weight-detecting litterboxes, health-tracking smart collars, and 3D-printed custom prosthetics. It’s wonderful that technology can help us look out for our fellow animals.
But people who exploit mother cows for their milk have embraced technology for a much darker purpose: squeezing as much profit as they can out of suffering animals. Devices like milk-monitoring boxes and health-tracking collars are sold with the promise of helping them, but they’re actually used to tell farmers when to forcibly impregnate cows in order to boost supplies of stolen milk.
Fortunately, we know a few things that really make cows happy:
Soft Grass Under Their Hooves and in Their Stomachs
Who looks happier to you?
Cows love to hang out on soft grass instead of standing in crowded lots full of their own feces. Under 5% of lactating cows in the U.S. are allowed regular access to grassy fields during the grazing season. The farmer pictured below even strapped a pair of virtual reality goggles onto a cow in order to show her a beautiful field instead. This is so disrespectful. Just give her the goods!
Human Care, Not Human Domination
Would you prefer the freedom to gather at a watering hole with your buddies or a collar that tracked your bodily functions?
People who exploit cows for profit have another option: letting them graze, play, and otherwise exist in peace instead of forcibly impregnating them and stealing the milk meant for their babies. For those who truly want to care for cows, farm sanctuaries are the perfect place to shower them with all the resources and affection they want.
The Opportunity to Raise Their Calves
Mother cows enjoy time with their calves, not with milk monitors.
Instead of monitoring milk in order to spot the signs of painful bacterial infections of cows’ udders, we can leave their teats out of filthy, harsh milking machines. Cows’ make milk for only one reason: to feed their calves.
Mother-calf bonds are strong, and there are countless reports of mother cows who continue to call and search frantically for their babies after the calves have been taken away and sold to veal or beef farms. Staying away from mother cows and their young would make a meaningful difference in their lives.
Cows Need Dignity Before Technology
No amount of technology will make animals happy if we don’t respect them. We can do that by not eating them, stealing the milk meant for their babies, or harming them in any other way.
By going vegan, you can save nearly 200 animals a year—including cows—who want nothing more than to be left in peace. Check out our free vegan starter kit with all the tips you’ll need to get started living compassionately today!
In the lead-up to the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, PETA sent a letter today to Editor-in-Chief Radhika Jones, calling on her to make this year’s event an animal-friendly, eco-conscious affair by replacing the In-N-Out Burger food truck with one of the many local vegan food trucks, such as Hart House, Compton Vegan, or Wolfie’s Hot Chicken.
PETA points out that vegan eating has skyrocketed by 3,000% since 2015—led by Oscar winners and nominees, including James Cromwell, Joaquin Phoenix, Natalie Portman, Cynthia Erivo, Woody Harrelson, Jessica Chastain, and Casey Affleck—and the United Nations has urged a global shift to vegan eating to combat the worst effects of the climate catastrophe.
“It’s high time for Vanity Fair to snub the meat, egg, and dairy industries for guzzling up our water supply, warming the planet, and tearing baby cows away from their mothers,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging Vanity Fair to make the Oscar Party a win for everyone by only serving up delicious, locally crafted vegan fare.”
Every person who goes vegan not only helps the planet but also spares animals daily misery in squalid, crowded conditions and a terrifying death in a slaughterhouse. In the meat, egg, and dairy industries, cows are raised on filthy outdoor feedlots and transported hundreds of miles to slaughterhouses in all weather extremes; chickens are so intensively confined that although normally clean animals, they are forced to urinate and defecate on one another; and piglets may be castrated and their tails cut off without painkillers.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Jones follows.
January 18, 2023
Radhika Jones
Editor-In-Chief
Vanity Fair
Dear Ms. Jones:
I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally, and PETA U.S. is the largest animal rights organization in the world—to request that the Vanity Fair Oscar Party host one of Los Angeles’ many excellent vegan food trucks, like Hart House or Wolfie’s, which serve delicious, climate-friendly, and humane burgers and sandwiches, instead of one that serves meat.
Yet most of the 29 million cows who are killed in the U.S. each year are raised on filthy factory farms, where they endure extreme crowding and routine mutilations—without any pain relief—before they’re sent on a terrifying journey to a slaughterhouse to experience a violent death. Cows are curious, clever animals who have been known to go to extraordinary lengths to escape from slaughterhouses. Forgoing burgers made from cows and opting for delicious vegan choices instead would spare these gentle giants this miserable fate.
And of course, with all we now know about the climate catastrophe, there’s simply no excuse for eating animals. According to the United Nations, a global shift to vegan eating is required to combat the worst effects of climate change, as animal agriculture alone is responsible for approximately one-fifth of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
There has never been a more opportune time to embrace climate- and animal-friendly foods, and we urge Vanity Fair to ensure that the Oscar Party meets the call. Please let us know if you need any assistance finding a vegan food truck that could cater to the event’s needs.
This morning, PETA sent a letter to Shenandoah Valley Organic (SVO) CEO Corwin Heatwole, urging him to immediately review all company and contract drivers’ records and their fitness to haul live animals and to prohibit any individuals with driving-related offenses from getting behind the wheel. The appeal comes after trucker Anthony Lee Lambert was found guilty of improper driving after running off one side of Kratzer Road and then the other, slamming into utility poles, then overturning the truck, all while hauling chickens to Harrisburg for SVO in July. Lambert had previously been found guilty of other traffic violations, including speeding, improper driving, and driving without a license.
PETA is also releasing a video featuring photos and dashcam footage of the crash scene. The video highlights troopers’ statements that they believed Lambert was looking at his phone before crashing. The wreck, which endangered other motorists, caused chickens to be crushed or ejected from crates and left maimed birds to suffer for hours. PETA is aiming to place a memorial billboard in the area to point out that animals feel pain and fear and value their lives, just as humans do, and ask motorists to help prevent further suffering by going vegan.
“Vulnerable birds endured a terrifying, painful ordeal because of this driver, but the buck stops with Shenandoah Valley Organic,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on the company to take action, but only the public can ensure that animals don’t suffer in the meat industry by choosing not to eat them.”
PETA is also criticizing SVO for making misleading claims about the “humane” treatment of the chickens it supplies to major grocery stores, including Kroger, Publix, and Harris Teeter. In addition, the group wants Heatwole to develop a contingency plan in the event of another wreck, including SOPs for prompt retrieval, humane handling, and painless, on-site relief from suffering. The group notes that SVO’s use of a driver with multiple offenses displays yet another glaring gap in the “humane” standards it professes to uphold.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
A truck bound for a Shenandoah Valley Organic slaughterhouse in Harrisonburg, Virginia overturned, killing many chickens and maiming others. Birds were left to suffer on the roadside for several hours after the accident.
The vehicle ran off one side of the road and slammed into utility poles before overturning—an ordeal that endangered other motorists and caused chickens to be crushed or ejected from crates.
PETA obtained Virginia State Police dashcam footage from the aftermath of the crash, in which chickens can be heard crying out repeatedly. In the footage, the truck driver admits that he “might have closed or blinked [his] eyes”—but a responding officer suspected that he was likely looking at his phone.
We also found that this same driver had been found guilty of several previous traffic violations, including three speeding tickets, improper driving, and driving without a license. The fact that he was transporting chickens for Shenandoah Valley Organic—which that claims to sell flesh from “humanely raised” chickens—shows a glaring gap in the company’s standards. It doesn’t matter what the standards are for disingenuously named “humane certified” companies, though, because there’s no humane way to exploit and kill animals for food.
The trucker involved in the crash was found guilty of improper driving, but PETA’s asking Shenandoah Valley Organic to take action to prevent these incidents from occurring in the first place. We wrote a letter to its CEO urging him to immediately review all company and contract drivers’ records and their fitness to haul live animals and to prohibit any individuals with driving-related offenses from getting behind the wheel. In addition, we’re asking the company to develop a contingency plan in the event of another wreck, including protocols for prompt retrieval, humane handling, and painless, on-site relief from suffering.
What Happens to the Animals Who Survive Truck Crashes ?
Crashes involving trucks hauling live animals to farms or slaughterhouses aren’t uncommon. In December 2022, cows were injured and killed when a truck overturned on the highway.
The victims who are killed in these incidents endure terrifying, painful deaths—but the animals who do survive the hellish journey to the slaughterhouse don’t fare any better. Workers round them up and haul them on another truck to the slaughterhouse, where workers slit their throats, often while they’re still conscious.
Here’s What YOU Can Do
No animal deserves to be exploited and killed for their flesh, eggs, or secretions—period. The best thing that you can do to help animals suffering in the meat, egg, and dairy industries is to go vegan.
Vegan entrepreneur Noah Hyams shares his top 3 future of food finds at CES 2023, from fermented plant-based soy protein to bioengineered microbe-based soft serve.
CES never used to be a food-forward show. But in 2019, plant-based meat startup Impossible Foods changed the rules of the game by debuting their Impossible Burger 2.0 at the annual gathering of the who’s who in tech. According to CES, which published a case study about the success of the launch, the pioneering food company garnered over 446 million media impressions. Thanks to this bold move, CES is now a conference mainstay for tech-forward food companies who are keen to showcase their tech-forward missions and products, not to mention nab some extra media headlines.
This year, there was plenty to get excited about foodwise. Asia-based foodtech companies in particular stole the show with innovations ranging from a proprietary plant-based fat and a plant-based replica of milk protein to a novel fermented soybean technology.
It was a dream come true for me to make my way through the show, tasting and discovering all the innovative new future food products on behalf of Green Queen. Below, I share my top three picks – the startups whose product or technology I found the most noteworthy.
Lypid: Plant-Based Fat Technology
Lypid’s plant-based pork belly bites featuring their proprietary PhytoFat at CES 2023
To start my foodtech journey at CES, I headed over to Lypid’s’s booth to try their newly developed PhytoFat, which the company says “accurately mimics the texture, mouthfeel, transfer of flavor, and cooking behavior of animal fats.” The IndieBio-backed company plans to sell its product to manufacturers to add animal meat-like juiciness and mouthfeel to plant-based meats.
The company, which raised US$4 million back in March 2022, says it uses physics and fluid dynamics to recreate a highly stable fat that can hold its texture for six months and melt at high temperatures just like animal-derived fats.. The trans-fat-free ingredient list is mostly made up of water and canola oil. Crucially, the company claims the fat is cheap to produce and requires zero hydrogenation. The company is based in both Taiwan and San Francisco and is currently looking for food service partners to bring its fat innovation to market in the US.
The plant-based pork belly sample I tasted was surprisingly realistic and tasty. As plant-based meat companies look to increasingly mimic animal meats, ingredients such as realistic-tasting fats are playing an increasingly important role. Plant-based fats on their own don’t perform like animal fats which leads many products to lack the mouthfeel, juiciness, and texture consumers would expect. After its up-and-coming launch in the U.S. in food service, Lypid says it will be looking to expand throughout Europe and Asia.
A booth panel describing AFT’s bioengineering technology, used in its new soft serve ice cream at CES 2023.
Next, I headed over to Armored Fresh Technology’s (AFT) booth to try their new bio-engineered soft-serve ice cream, a new product line for the South Korean company, and it was delicious.
According to AFT, the core of their raw material technology is an emulsifying function that allows them to create a replica of the milk protein casein as a plant-based protein. The company says that dairy’s unique taste and texture features such as the stretchiness of cheese, chewy ice cream, and creamy yogurts all come from casein, which is not available in plants. It’s also why it has been difficult for plant-based proteins to get plant-based dairy to taste like its animal counterpart. Like Perfect Day, AFT uses precision fermentation technology to recreate molecularly identical animal casein from microbes.
AFT raised $23 million back in June and then launched their plant-based cheeses made from almond milk and a proprietary plant-based lactic acid in the US market this past October. Currently, the cheeses are available in more than 100 stores on the East Coast. The company has secured a number of patents for its cheese production processes and has now brought some of this same technology to the ice cream category.
Kwang Jin Corp’s DNS: Fermented Plant-Based Protein Powder Meal
Closeup of Kwang Jin Corp’s DNS Da Neung Sik product, a plant-based fermented soybean protein meal, at CES 2023.
My last stop was at South Korean startup Kwang Jin Corp’s booth. The company was a Korean showing off its latest plant-based food product, ‘DNS Da Neung Sik’ a sort of healthy powder beverage/meal replacement mix. The soybean meal is inspired by Chungguk jang, a traditional Korean fermented food. Kwang Jin has spent many years developing a modernized version of the traditional method of natural fermentation using rice straws to isolate and culture the Chungguk jang bacteria. While the product is primarily from fermented soybeans, there are loads of other healthy ingredients in it such as oat, brown rice, Konjac, cranberry, lemon, sweet pumpkin, broccoli, spinach, sunflower seed, almond, peanut, and banana. It is intended as a fermented alternative (plant-based) milk. I mixed it with water to try it, and it tasted like healthy oatmeal to me. The company says the powder is rich in both protein and gut-friendly probiotics and contains more nutrients than many plant-based milks and meal replacements on the market. The company is targeting US market entry and plans to start selling its products on Amazon as early as February.
Other Exciting Food Tech We Sampled
Some of the other noteworthy companies that exhibited their products this year included SavorEat, an Israeli company whose 3-D printer robot makes 3-D printed plant-based burgers. The printer allows customers to even choose their preferred protein-to-fat ratio as well as the size of the patty and how they want it cooked—juicy or well-done. Another exciting company that sampled their products is Chicago-based Nature’s Fynd, which makes fungi-based meat products from a microbe dubbed ‘Fy’, a nutritional fungi protein with all 9 essential amino acids. The novel fungi was discovered by the company’s scientists in the volcanic springs of Yellowstone National Park.
For a complete guide to the foodtech and agtech companies that participated in the show, check out The Spoon’s helpful list.
About the author: Noah Hyams is an entrepreneur, musician, and digital producer based in New York City and the founder of Songathon and VEGPRENEUR – Connect with Noah.
Because Starbucks agrees that animal-friendly vegan milks are better for the planet than dairy milk but insists on charging extra for them, Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) activists and PETA supporters will be outside the chain’s 1915 Edgewater Dr. location on Thursday to intercept would-be customers with free RISE Brewing Co. vegan lattes made with creamy oat milk. The action comes after nearly 150,000 PETA supporters asked Starbucks to end its vegan upcharge.
When: Thursday, January 19, 8:30 a.m.
Where: Starbucks, 1915 Edgewater Dr. (near the intersection with W. Yale Street), Orlando
“Starbucks is counting its beans when it should be counting the number of customers it will lose if it doesn’t end the vegan milk upcharge,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “People who choose to drink responsibly for the sake of animals or their own health or because they know that dairy farming is fueling the climate catastrophe are angry with the company for placing profits above ethics.”
PETA has also held vegan coffee drink giveaways outside Starbucks locations in Cincinnati; Loveland, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and numerous other cities.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has rejected Houston resident Catie Cryar’s pro-vegan license plate application for “LVTOFU,” claiming the soybean-celebrating message could be viewed as “vulgar.” In response, Cryar has just submitted an appeal stating that the license plate does not contain profanity and is “designed to inspire more people to try tofu.”
“The Texas DMV has the opportunity here to start driving positive change for animals who suffer daily for nothing more than a fleeting taste of their flesh,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA applauds any measure that saves animals’ lives and promotes the kind of tasty, high-quality proteins like tofu that are great for people on the go.”
Not only is tofu cheaper than meat, it is packed with protein, contains zero cholesterol, and can lower the risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, various types of cancer, and numerous other health problems. Every person who might have been inspired to go vegan by the “LVTOFU” message on Cryar’s license plate would have saved nearly 200 animals every year and dramatically shrunk their own carbon footprint. And tofu has never caused a pandemic, but SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19 all stemmed from confining and killing animals for food.
A driver who sought approval for the very same license plate in Maine got the green light, but DMV offices in Colorado, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia have all turned down requests to proclaim the joy of soy.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Local diners just might think twice about chowing down on fried chicken after they see—and hear—“Hell on Wheels,” PETA’s new guerilla-marketing campaign featuring a life-size chicken transport truck covered with images of real chickens crammed into crates on their way to a slaughterhouse, complete with actual recorded sounds of the birds’ cries and a subliminal message every 10 seconds suggesting that people go vegan. It will debut by circling the AT&T Discovery District on Thursday before moving on to confront Dallas diners at Cowboy Chicken, Wing Bucket, Mike’s Chicken, Dave’s Hot Chicken, and Street’s Fine Chicken. The circuit will continue in Fort Worth, running by Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, The Cookshack, Charleston’s Restaurant, Lisa’s Chicken & Seafood, and Good Luck Drive-In through Sunday as part of the group’s national tour.
When: Thursday, January 19, 12 noon
Where: AT&T Discovery District, 308 S. Akard St., Dallas
“Behind every barbecued wing or bucket of fried chicken is a once-living, sensitive individual who was crammed onto a truck for a terrifying, miserable journey to their death,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s ‘Hell on Wheels’ truck is an appeal to anyone who eats chicken to remember that the meat industry is cruel to birds and that the kindest meal is a vegan one.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
Because Starbucks agrees that animal-friendly vegan milks are better for the planet than dairy milk but insists on charging extra for them, Direct Action Everywhere activists and PETA supporters will be outside the chain’s 4656 Maryland Ave. location on Wednesday to intercept would-be customers with free RISE Brewing Co. vegan lattes made with creamy oat milk. The action comes after nearly 150,000 PETA supporters asked Starbucks to end its vegan upcharge.
When: Wednesday, January 18, 8:30 a.m.
Where: Starbucks, 4656 Maryland Ave., St. Louis
“Starbucks is counting its beans when it should be counting the number of customers it will lose if it doesn’t end the vegan milk upcharge,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “People who choose to drink responsibly for the sake of animals or their own health or because they know that dairy farming is fueling the climate catastrophe are angry with the company for placing profits above ethics.”
PETA has also held vegan coffee drink giveaways outside Starbucks locations in Cincinnati; Loveland, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and numerous other cities.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
If the cost of eggs has increased too much for your budget … great! While many wonder why eggs are so expensive, PETA wonders why they haven’t cost more than a few dollars all along—especially since their production costs millions of chickens their lives every year and causes them immense and prolonged suffering throughout their short lives. If you’re looking for a kind and affordable way to enjoy scrambles, omelets, and baking, we have all the best egg-free staples and facts you’ll need to know.
5 Reasons to Go Egg-Free
1. Chickens Are Killed at 2 Years Old in the Egg Industry
Chickens are arguably the most abused animals on the planet. In the U.S., nearly 400 million hens are used for their eggs. When they stop laying eggs daily, usually at about 1.5 years old, they’re deemed “worthless” by the industry and killed.
In the egg industry, more than 200 million day-old male chicks are ground up alive each year because they’re “useless” in terms of profit since they don’t produce eggs and aren’t large enough to be used for their flesh. This killing occurs as a result of the egg industry even if a company’s eggs are labeled “free-range” or “cage-free.” All eggs come from chickens born at hatcheries that kill day-old male chicks and raised on farms that exploit their mothers and sisters for their reproductive parts.
2. ‘Cage-Free,’ ‘Organic,’ and ‘Free-Range’ Eggs Are No Better for Chickens Forced to Lay Them
A PETA investigation into “free-range” egg company Nellie’s Free Range Eggs found thousands of hens crammed tightly together in a shed where each hen had only a little more than a single square foot of space. Chickens in sheds like these cannot properly extend their wings, stretch their necks for foraging activities, or roost for rest—and they cannot engage in any behavior, like foraging and dust-bathing, that make their lives fulfilling.
3. Animal Agriculture Causes Pandemics
Amid the largest bird flu outbreak in the country’s history, a highly contagious strain of the virus (H5N1) was detected in a human—a prison inmate working on a farm in Colorado—for the first time in the U.S. The worker was likely infected after helping to kill chickens en masse—a “disease control” measure that’s being implemented all over the country on farms where avian flu outbreaks have occurred. Outbreaks have been reported in chickens on commercial and “backyard farms” in at least 24 states.
In the U.S., farms may slaughter animals en masse for “disease control” by killing birds with a water-based foam, slowly smothering them to death (sometimes taking up to 14 minutes), and egg farms typically gas the birds to death. Others shut off all airflow in the sheds in another extremely cruel method known as “ventilation shutdown plus,” which involves raising the temperature to as high as 120 degreesand adding carbon dioxide—suffocating and baking the birds to death. The agonizing process can take hours, as the birds writhe, gasp, and desperately thrust themselves against the walls of the enclosure in an attempt to escape, before eventually succumbing to heatstroke and suffocation.
4. Eggs and Other Animal-Derived Products Are More Expensive Than Veggies
According to a University of Oxford study, cutting meat and dairy out of your diet can reduce food costs by 25%—and even more if you go vegan for life! You’ll see the savings largely in whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and beans, but meat-free options have also decreased in price in recent years.
5. Eggs Are So Expensive! Egg-Free Options Are Kind and Affordable
With so many egg replacements available for baking or preparing a dish that calls for eggs, there’s no reason to support the horrid egg industry. As the demand for compassionate, plant-based foods keeps growing, we’re seeing more egg-free products appear on the scene. Some of our favorites are Simply Eggless, VeganEgg, and Ener-G Egg Replacer, among many other egg-free options.
Help Protect Animals, the Planet, and Your Wallet: Go Vegan Today
Animals are unique individuals with their own wants and needs. The idea that humans are entitled to their bodies for items like eggs is an example of speciesism, the misguided belief that one species is more important than another.
If you’re ready to help end speciesism, cut costs, and save animals, take PETA’s 3-Week Vegan Challenge. After going vegan for three weeks, you’ll be a pro at finding vegan options at your favorite restaurants, eating vegan on a budget, and meeting all your nutritional needs.
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