Chipotle Halts Pork Sales in Some Locations

Paws Up! To Chipotle for halting the sale of pork due to animal welfare concerns.

Although not a meat-free restaurant chain, Chipotle is well known for efforts to maintain humane and

Chipotle’s policy requires that farmed pigs have opportunities to access outdoor areas.

sustainable business practices. Last year, NHES wrote about Chipotle’s decision to offer more vegan-friendly menu items. According to a recent news article, Chipotle has decided to halt the sale of pork in hundreds of locations after an audit revealed that one of the restaurant’s suppliers was not meeting the company’s standards  for humanely-raised pigs. For example, Chipotle stipulates that animals must have opportunities to be in the outdoors. While NHES is committed to promoting vegan and vegetarian diets, we applaud Chipotle for acting on the company’s commitment to upholding sustainable and humane farming practices.

Take Action: Consider a vegan or vegetarian diet and learn about the humane and health benefits of plant-based eating. If you decide to eat meat, reduce your intake and avoid factory-farmed meats. Contact Chipotle to express your support of humane treatment of farm animals.

When you think about it…can you trust animal-based product labels?

Find vegan and vegetarian versions of popular foods on the NHES website.

We are bombarded by advertisements encouraging us to buy the latest and greatest, the biggest and best. Many of these products come with labels using words we think we understand but do we? For instance, when grocery shopping, do we know what “cage free” means when referring to eggs, or even what “humane” means when referring to farmed animals?

“Although USDA  [U.S. Department of Agriculture] regularly approves claims related to animal welfare, no legal definitions exist for the terms ‘animal welfare,’ ‘humane,’ or ‘animal care.’” So if there are no legal definitions, how are we as consumers to know how well, or ill, treated the animals are who produce food for our table? Sadly, we have no way of knowing.

We can, however, avoid the issue altogether. We can shop vegan. Vegans  eat no animal flesh or animal products thereby avoiding the issue of what exactly animal-based product labels mean. For, when you think about it…can you trust animal-based product labels?

 

Farmed Animal Abuse Will Not Be Tolerated

Paws Up!
To the law enforcement community of Brown County, Wisconsin, for prosecuting farmed animal abusers.

Factory farmed animals are subjected to cruel environments, which can eventually lead to cruelty against others.

According to a news story, “Two Wisconsin dairy farm workers pled no contest…to three counts of animal cruelty after an animal rights group showed with hidden cameras that the employees…had abused dairy cows.”

While factory farmed animals are destined to die, they should be treated with respect while still alive. They should be cared for based on industry standards and not become objects of human frustration and aggression. By exposing cruelty and those who perpetrate such cruelty, law enforcement brings to light abusive conditions in some factory farms.

Cruelty to farmed animals may escalate to cruelty to other animals—companion cats and dogs, for example—or even other humans. Therefore, it must be dealt with swiftly.

Take Action: Report animal cruelty wherever and whenever you see it. To avoid being part of farmed animal cruelty, consider a vegetarian/vegan diet.

IKEA Cares for the Environment

Paws Up!
To IKEA for recognizing the impact eating meat has on the environment.

Eating a plant-based diet can have a positive impact on the environment. Click here to find vegan and vegetarian recipes.

According to a news story, “The Swedish furniture giant will roll out a vegetarian and a chicken version of its iconic meatballs in stores worldwide sometime next year, a company spokesperson confirmed. The vegetarian meatballs are part of IKEA’s effort to reduce the environmental impact of its estimated 150 million meatballs sold per year.”

A vegetarian/vegan diet is humane to both the environment and to us humans. According to an article in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, entitled “Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment,” “The US food production system uses about 50% of the total US land area, 80% of the fresh water, and 17% of the fossil energy used in the country.” For example:

o A larger amount of cropland, almost two-tenths of a hectare, is needed to produce a meat-based diet than is needed to produce a plant-based diet. “In fact, …US livestock consumes more than 7 times as much grain as is consumed…by the entire American population.”
o To produce one kilogram of animal protein requires about 100 times more water than to produce the same amount of grain protein.
o The needed energy to produce a meat-based diet is more than eleven times greater than that needed to produce a planted-based diet.

This massive use of nonrenewable resources is putting a strain on our planet.

Further, in 2006, the United Nations released a report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, which concludes that raising farmed animals is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.

Take Action: Thank IKEA for making this move to include a vegetarian option on their menu. Continue to encourage them to offer additional vegetarian and vegan options to help the health of the planet.

Ms. Pernille Lopez
President, IKEA North America
Ikea Corporate Office
496 West Germantown Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462

When you think about…animals are not the only ones who suffer in slaughterhouses.

Human misery is a consequence of animal slaughter.

Workers face both physical and psychological injuries in the fast-paced environment of a slaughterhouse. The work itself is violent, and the speed with which workers must act is frightening, according to Jennifer Dillard in A Slaughterhouse Nightmare.

Along with such physical injuries as tendonitis and carpel tunnel syndrome, there are life-threatening injuries often caused by long hours and tiring work all while workers handle sharp knives designed to slice through bone. There are also psychological injuries suffered as a result of making thousands of cuts a day on the kill floor to process over 9 billion animals a year in the United States.

The mainly low-wage workers often evidence the effects of alcohol and drug abuse to compensate for the grueling, tedious, and brutal work in which they engage. Gail Eiznitz in Slaughterhouse quotes a worker, “The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll.”

We can all reduce not only the suffering of animals in slaughterhouses but also the suffering of the workers by reducing our reliance on animal-based products. By selecting a vegetarian/vegan diet, we help reduce the number of animals being raised and slaughtered for food; therefore, fewer workers will have to experience the physical and psychological effects of their work. For when you think about it…animals are not the only ones who suffer in slaughterhouses.

When you think about it…killing at any speed is hazardous to one’s health.

The USDA may allow poultry companies to increase the number of chickens processed per minute. View our list of vegan/vegetarian options that support a humane diet.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is putting the final touches on a proposal that would allow poultry companies to accelerate poultry processing lines. Translation: the companies can increase the speed at which they can kill animals from 140 to 175 chickens a minute and from 45 to 55 turkeys a minute.

The obvious hazard is to the birds—more will be slaughtered a minute, an hour, a day at these plants. At current “line speeds,” many birds are not dead before they enter tanks of scalding water. They are, in essence, boiled alive. With more rapid line speeds, more chickens and turkeys may die horrific deaths. Ironically, birds who die this way must be discarded. If a bird hasn’t completely bled out prior to being dragged through the scalding water, the bird’s flesh becomes saturated with blood, which can carry pathogens, thereby making the flesh unusable.

There’s another group who will suffer, too—the workers in these factories. Injuries to slaughterhouse workers can be career ending and sometimes life-threatening. Workers are dealing with frightened animals, they are handling sharp objects, walking around on slimy floors, and generally moving faster than any of us can comprehend, all to take the lives of innocent animals.

So, whether a human or a nonhuman animal, when you think about it…killing at any speed is hazardous to one’s health. Chose a vegan/vegetarian diet instead and end the killing.

Subway’s New Way

Subway is now offering falafel sandwiches at select shops in the Washington D.C. area.

Paws Up!
To Subway for offering falafel in selected restaurants in the Washington, DC, area.

Subway is offering a new sandwich in some of its Washington, DC, restaurants. In the past Subway has offered moderate roll-outs of new vegan choices in various locations around the country. It’s time that Subway offer several choices in all restaurants.

Take Action: Write a letter of thanks to Subway letting the company know you enjoy the vegan options and you want to see these options at more restaurants across the country.

Fred DeLuca, CEO
Subway Corporate Office & Headquarters
325 Bic Drive
Milford CT 06460

When you think about it…Oktoberfest can celebrate more than just weinersnitchel.

Holidays can easily be celebrated with vegetarian and vegan options.

Oktoberfest in Germany is now over. While many of the 6 million visitors to Munich chowed down on animal products, many others chose vegetarian and vegan options. If a country known for its wursts and white sausage can support vegetarian and vegan options, then so can we. Whatever you are celebrating, make sure some, if not all, of your dishes are animal free. With simple recipes and tasty results, adding vegetarian/vegan dishes to your event is as easy as apple pie. When you think about it…any holiday can celebrate life.

When you think about it…why wouldn’t you choose a plant-based diet?

Embracing a plant-based diet is not only affordable, but can also reduce one’s risk of heart disease and stroke.

Researchers determined that a major barrier to people adopting a plant-based diet was lack of information about such diets. Plant-based diets involve an increase in the consumption of fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds and a decrease in foods derived from animals, including meat, eggs, and dairy.

Other barriers to embracing a plant-based diet include a perceived lack of taste and that a plant-based diet would be too expensive. While fresh fruits and vegetables in season are usually fairly easy to obtain without straining the family budget, out of season fruits and vegetables can be pricey. Grains and legumes, however, are relatively inexpensive and can feed a family far more cheaply than meat-based foods would. There are also other barriers, including the unwillingness or inability to change dietary habits for self and family.

However, perceived benefits include a healthier diet that would help people either lose weight or stay at their current weight. Additional health benefits include reduced risks for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases.

Educating ourselves about the health benefits of a plant-based diet will have many of us running to our local supermarket to purchase plant-based ingredients to make tonight’s dinner. In fact, many of us may have a wide variety of plant-based foods in our cupboards already. Check yours out and see if you can make a healthy meal without using animal products because when you think about it…why wouldn’t you choose a plant-based diet?

McDonald’s Canada Goes Veggie

McDonald’s Canada has now given consumers two new vegan options from their menu.

Paws Up!
To McDonald’s Canada for offering two new veggie wraps.

According to McDonald’s Canada CEO John Betts, “People always ask for the veggie burger. So this we’re going to surprise them with,” referring to the Mediterranean Veggie and Sante Fe Veggie wraps.

Eating vegan/vegetarian reduces our dependence on fossil fuel, it lowers the amount of water used to produce food, and it is a healthier diet for all creatures on the planet and the planet itself.

Take Action: Eating vegan/vegetarian is getting easier every day. As more diners ask for these types of foods, more restaurants are going to offer them. So, if your favorite restaurant is not serving enough vegan/vegetarian options to suit you and your friends, let the owner know. For Canadian residents, thank the CEO of McDonald’s Canada for offering these options to you.

John Betts, CEO
McDonald’s Canada Corporation
1 McDonald’s Place
Donn Mills, Ontario
Canada