When we make daily choices to eat fewer animal products or swap them out entirely, whether for a meal or a lifetime, we are driving meaningful change by helping reduce the demand for meat and dairy and sparing the lives of farmed animals. Imagine, then, the impact that large food companies could make by rebalancing their menus to prioritize plant-based proteins over animal-based ones.
Yet, our recent assessment of the 50 largest US restaurant chains shows most are failing to embrace a more humane and sustainable food system. Moving the Menu 2022 rated the companies on their approach and progress toward increasing plant-based protein offerings, reducing the predominance of animal products on their menus, and protecting the welfare of the chickens and pigs in their supply chains.
Most Companies Are Failing to Make Meaningful Progress
Well-known brands like Subway, Papa John’s, Popeyes, Dunkin’, McDonald’s, Sonic, Chick-Fil-A, Zaxby’s, Jack in the Box, and Domino’s, among others, are failing to make progress toward eliminating the worst abuses endured by animals in their supply chains or take meaningful steps to offer more plant-based menu options. No company has made reducing animal products a priority, despite how important it is for protecting our climate, public health, and billions of animals.
Sentient Beings Are Suffering Every Day
More than 9 billion land animals, including 8 billion chickens and 120 million pigs, experience unbearable cruelty on factory farms every year.
These thinking, feeling, sentient beings are condemned to lives of confinement in crowded environments, often subjected to painful mutilations, and prevented from performing any of their natural behaviors throughout their stressful, pain-ridden, and short lives. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Solutions Are in Sight
The plant-based sector offers innovative products—including meat, egg, and cheese alternatives—that appeal to customers and can contribute to companies reducing their negative environmental and social impacts.
By reducing animal products and offering and promoting these types of plant-based proteins, food companies can create positive change for animals and facilitate a transition toward a more compassionate and sustainable food system. These steps will also better enable them to source from farms that align with their commitments to protect the remaining animals in their supply chains.
Sign our petition today calling on the largest players in the food industry to do better for farmed animals and the environment by committing to reducing their sourcing of animal products by 25% by 2030.