This is how Just Salad is working toward a more sustainable food system.
Just Salad, a fast-casual chain with more than 40 locations in the United States, has released its annual sustainability report that highlights the company’s efforts to be more environmentally friendly, including reducing carbon emissions by adding more plant-based options. This year’s report included major milestones for Just Salad’s protein diversification and carbon reduction efforts, including information on Just Salad’s partnership with Daring Foods™ plant-based chicken, the reformulation of its smoothie menu to remove dairy, and new plant-based meal kit options.
In its 2020 sustainability report, Just Salad highlighted relaunching its smoothie menu with plant-based ingredients, removing dairy-based yogurt. Additionally, the chain mentions continuing to offer its Beyond Beef© meatballs and launching its meal kit brand, Housemade, which includes two fully plant-based options.
The launch of a plant-based chicken product is also included as a milestone. According to Just Salad’s report, US diet-related emissions would immediately drop by 35% if Americans replaced half of all animal-based food with plant-based alternatives.
In November of last year Just Salad added a breaded, plant-based chicken made by US-based startup Daring to its menu nationwide. The exciting announcement followed several meetings with and product recommendations from World Animal Protection. This is the first meatless chicken product for Just Salad, which, just 14 months prior, replaced grass-fed beef with plant-based Beyond Beef© balls. The salad company offers customers three plant-based protein options that are more sustainable and kinder to animals – Daring chicken, Beyond Beef, and tofu.
World Animal Protection applauds Just Salad for expanding protein options as a way to meet its carbon reduction goals, as well as giving customers an option to reduce their meat consumption. We believe this is a critical step in improving the lives of factory-farmed animals across the country and creating a more sustainable food system. It is our hope that Just Salad will continue to innovate by diversifying protein options, as well as work to reduce the total amount of animal products from its menu by replacing them with more humane and sustainable options.
By reducing the amount of animal products consumed, we can put an end to some of the cruelest factory farming practices, including extreme confinement, the overuse of antibiotics, and brutal mutilations of farmed animals. World Animal Protection expects that factory farming will be phased out as demand declines, creating a shift towards family farming and practices that are more sustainable and kinder to animals.
So, what can you do to help end factory farming and improve the lives of pigs, cows, chickens, and other animals raised for food? By consuming less animal products and only purchasing from small family farms, you can help protect the planet and countless animals from needless suffering.
Join the global movement of people who are committed to creating a kinder future. Get started by visiting a Just Salad near you and join our Plant-Powered Changemakers community.
