Category: vegetarianism

Categories
Cruelty-free Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted vegan vegetarianism

BC’s plant-protein industry takes off

Seamless texture with legumes on black background

It was great to see the Vancouver Sun’s recent feature on local plant-based food companies Gardein and Daiya Foods, but they’re not alone in pioneering alternatives to animal-based products.  Here are some of the other Lower Mainland businesses leading the way:

The Global Gardens Group, based in Richmond, has just launched a dairy milk alternative called Veggemo, which the company says is “the first non-dairy beverage to originate from veggies.”

Vega, a fast-growing producer of plant-based nutrition products, was recently acquired by a U.S. food company but will remain Burnaby-based.  Vega says its goal is “to provide convenient plant-based products, made from real, whole food ingredients to support your health—without having a negative impact on the planet’s health.”

Left Coast Naturals, which includes the Hippie Foods brand, is also based in Burnaby.  Hippie Foods produces a range of plant-based snacks using whole food ingredients. On its blog, the company has stated that “Plant-based diets are no longer just for PETA protesters, hardcore tree huggers or Beyonce. The reality of becoming less reliant on meat and animal-based products is something we’ll all have to face.”

Another Burnaby company, Natera, specializes in hemp protein products (seeds and protein powders). On its website Natera says its products are “Perfect for vegan, paleo or gluten-free diets, hemp contains 35% protein and 45% oil in its dehulled state. That makes it earth’s number-one most digestible plant protein.”

Burcon Nutrascience, headquartered in Vancouver, is developing plant proteins as ingredients for the global food and beverage industry. The company says: “Both animal and plant protein production exert significant pressures on the environment.  However, the environmental pressures exerted by meat and animal protein production exceed those of plant and plant protein production many times, in both magnitude and extent of area affected.”

Ergogenics is a Vancouver-based company specializing in whole, plant-based nutrition products. The company says its mission is “to advocate a move towards plant-based nutrition for better health, Environmental Sustainability, and Compassion for Animals.”

The plant-protein industry is growing around the world but it looks like the Lower Mainland is becoming one of its hubs. While some vegetarians and vegans prefer not to rely on processed or convenience foods, these new products may help supplant animal proteins and reduce the need for industrialized animal agriculture – and that’s got to be good news for farm animals.

Categories
animal welfare Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted vegan vegetarianism

Is fake meat the key to stopping the growth of factory farming?

Feedlot istock

Will food science provide an escape from our unsustainable and inhumane dependency on meat consumption and animal agriculture?

Trying to stay positive about the future of farmed animals is not easy for the animal activists, ethical vegetarians and environmentalists who care about the animal cruelty and ecological damage caused by factory farms.

While some might be cheered by the decline in meat consumption in North America and Europe (which only applies to red meat, not poultry), the projections for consumption elsewhere, especially in China, are dispiriting.

One recent study found that per capita meat consumption in China has increased by 400 per cent since 1971 and is still growing. (But the Chinese still only eat 55 kg of meat per person each year, compared to 107 kg for Americans.)  According to the United Nations, total demand for animal products in developing countries is expected to more than double by 2030. This demand will almost inevitably be met by increasing numbers of large factory farms, with all their inherent cruelty and damage to the environment.

 

One proposed way of avoiding this dark future is to replace meat with sustainable plant-based products.   New processes, market trends and technical innovations in some developed countries suggest we might yet escape a massive increase in animal suffering and environmental degradation caused by the growth in intensive animal agriculture.   The “fake meat” industry is not without its critics and some vegetarians and vegans warn against heavily processed food, arguing that traditional, natural sources of protein (e.g. beans, lentils,) are the best alternatives to meat.  Others contend that creating highly palatable, convenient meat substitutes is the only way to draw modern meat eaters away from their ingrained attraction to sausages, bacon, burgers, hot dogs, chicken wings and steaks.

Europe appears to be leading the way in the development of meat alternatives, with the Netherlands most recently announcing the creation of a “steak” made from vegetable protein.  Scientists at Wageningen University produced the steak using Shear cell technology, an energy-efficient process that researchers claim reproduces the fibrous texture of steak. A Dutch firm, The Vegetarian Butcher (which helped fund the research) is already a highly successful purveyor of meat substitutes, with more than 1000 dealers and distributors across the Netherlands.

In famously meat-loving Germany, sales of new meat substitutes are increasingly popular, showing double-digit growth.   Even meat companies see the potential.  “Surprisingly, German companies that are traditionally associated with manufacturing meat products are now entering this market for meat substitutes, going so far as to launch meat imitations using the same brands as their meat-filled counterparts,” says one recent report.  The director of a German meat company recently referred to sausages as “the cigarette of the future” and said that he wanted at least 30 per cent of the company’s sales to come from its vegetarian range by 2019.

In North America, companies like Beyond Meat, Hampton Creek and Gardein have already tapped into the growing consumer interest in alternatives to animal-based products. Market analysts predict that alternative protein sources could claim up to a third of the protein market by 2054.

All these companies have had to overcome technical hurdles as well as consumer and media scepticism. Yet, science appears to be succeeding when product development hits a wall.  For example, pea protein has presented a problem to companies seeking to use it in plant-based products because of its bitter taste.  But recently, food researchers found a way to reduce the bitterness, making the taste neutral – a small development but one that opens the door to using this non-animal protein in a range of new food products.  If the meat alternative industry continues to resolve such issues, they could yet end up with products that will appeal to the most diehard carnivores.

It is difficult to know whether the new plant-based food industry is the answer to curtailing the horrors of factory farming, but with global meat consumption and production still rampant, it may be the best chance we have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted vegan vegetarianism

Debate over meat heats up

 

 

.

Nutrition Decision

.

 

Everyone’s arguing about meat.

The recent announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning the cancer risk caused by consumption of red and processed meats has, predictably, provoked a heated debate in social and conventional media.

While this is a human health issue, ethical vegetarians and animal activists naturally welcome evidence that may contribute to lower consumption of animal flesh.  The meat industry, of course, is attacking WHO’s report as “alarmist”.  Meat lovers are expressing defiance, with many regaling media with personal anecdotes such as: “My grandpa was 102 years old when he died, and he had beef and potatoes every day.”

While the debate over how much meat is safe to eat continues, another controversy rages over the environmental impact of meat consumption.   The United Nations says that livestock are responsible for 14.5 per cent of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, thus contributing more to climate change than transport. Yet, agriculture’s contribution is not on the agenda at the upcoming climate change conference in Paris, an omission that has attracted criticism. Research has shown that livestock and meat production have other negative impacts that could be alleviated by lower meat consumption.  A 2014 report  by respected think-tank Chatham House concluded: “Lower consumption of livestock products in high-consuming countries could also yield significant environmental and societal co-benefits for health, global food security, water security and biodiversity.”

For many vegetarians and vegans these are, to some degree, side issues (albeit important ones) in their decision to switch to a plant-based diet.  Philosopher Peter Singer, often described as the father of the animal rights movement, has long argued that, if it is possible to survive and be healthy without eating meat, fish, dairy or eggs, one ought to choose that option instead of causing unnecessary harm to animals.  This is about a taking a moral, compassionate position against the unnecessary suffering and slaughter of animals.

At VHS, our goal is to reduce or eliminate animal suffering wherever possible.  We have no doubt that reducing or eliminating meat consumption helps achieve that goal.  Whatever the health risks or environmental impacts of meat consumption, moving toward a plant-based diet is good for the billions of animals who face misery and death on factory farms around the world.

The good news is that it’s never been easier to move to a meat-free diet.   Peter Singer was right about being able “to survive and be healthy” without eating animal products – but now plant-based diets are just as much about pleasure as health, ethics or environmental sustainability.  The emergence of convenient and better quality meat alternatives, the increasing number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants and the explosion of online meatless recipes have all helped make plant-based diets familiar, easy and enjoyable.

So while the debates about meat, health, ethics and the environment will rage on in all their complexities, our view is quite simple: If one can eat well without cruelty or slaughter, why not?

 

Categories
animal welfare Cruelty-free Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted vegan vegetarianism

New meat alternatives offer great promise

 

Homemade Healthy Vegetarian Quinoa Burger with Lettuce and Tomato

.

 

But don’t look to ‘lab meat’ for a solution

.

 

Guest post by David Steele

There is a promising trend in food these days. Meat substitutes are on the rise. More and more plant-based meats that look and taste like their cognate animal products are coming to market. They have been in the news big time lately. The New York Times, The Guardian, Time Magazine and Slate are just a few of the publications that have run feature stories in recent months.

 

Most recently, the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof wrote effusively about the latest products. High in protein and other nutrients, these plant-based meats, Kristof tells us, are nearly indistinguishable from cooked animal flesh. What a wonderful development! As The Guardian bluntly states, modern animal agriculture is one of the worst crimes in history. Soon, just maybe, we’ll be able to consign that crime to the past.

 

The vast majority of animals raised for meat, eggs and dairy today are raised on factory farms. Debeaking, tail docking, castration, even tooth cutting – all without anesthetics – are standard practice. Dairy cows have their calves taken from them within hours of giving birth. Egg laying hens live six or eight to a cage; each has less than a standard 8½ x 11” sheet of paper’s ‘floor’ space to her. Pregnant and mother pigs live individually in cages so tiny that they can’t even turn around.  As the Guardian article points out, “The fate of animals in such industrial installations has become one of the most pressing ethical issues of our time.”

 

And the severe problems don’t end with the animals’ hellish lives. Raising livestock and the grain and soybeans to feed them is easily the biggest contributor to rainforest destruction; credible analyses indicate that animal agriculture is responsible for roughly 15 to 25% of global warming.  And animal agriculture is grossly inefficient.

 

As Cornell University’s David Pimentel calculates it, the way we raise meat, it takes some 28 calories of fossil fuel to generate one calorie of food value. This is enormously wasteful. And worse, because so much grain and soy is fed to animals instead of humans, the price of basic staples is raised, pricing out hundreds of millions of the world’s poor (see, e.g., this book review). In effect, we’re throwing away the majority of the protein and calories that humans could have taken in. Clearly, we can’t allow this to go on. Not for long, anyway.

 

In step the meat substitutes

That is why the appearance of ever more meat substitutes is such a very good thing. As Kristof says, “If the alternatives to meat are tasty, healthier, cheaper, better for the environment and pose fewer ethical challenges, the result may be a revolution in the human diet.” And he may very well be right. Tech giant Google wanted to bet big time on it this summer. They made a $200,000,000+ offer for one of the new startups – Stanford biochemist Patrick Brown’s Impossible Foods. Brown’s product won’t even be out until next year! Google, by the way, was turned down; Impossible Foods has raised $108,000,000 on its own instead.

Dr. Brown’s big innovation? He’s adding plant-derived heme to his new veggie burgers. Heme, he argues, is responsible for much of the flavour of meat. If Google’s interest in it is any indicator, he’s probably right. His products will join those of Beyond Meat and the older Tofurky, Yves, Gardein, Field Roast, etc., etc., etc., on store shelves soon.

All of these substitutes for animal products save animals from horrific lives and reduce the environmental footprint of our meals. There are other products on the horizon, though, that are nowhere near as beneficial. They are not even benign.

 

“Lab Meat”

 

Mark Post and colleagues at the Maastricht University in the Netherlands and New York City’s Modern Meadow are attempting to make meat outside of animals’ bodies. Beef seems to be their main goal for now. This is not artificial meat, per se, but rather meat made by growing cells taken from animals. On the surface, it sounds like a great thing. But, when you dig deeper, you see that it is nothing of the sort.

 

The first lab meat burger was made, cooked and eaten a couple of years ago. Constructed from 20,000 tiny strips of muscle cells, the thing was reportedly on the flavourless side and cooked up well only with the liberal use of butter. It was lauded by Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation, as the world’s first cruelty-free burger.

 

Unfortunately, in this case Dr. Singer was wrong. Immense cruelty went into it – and goes into the continued work on it and its competitors.

 

Lab meat is made by taking cells from the bodies of living animals and growing them in a liquid medium. The end result is short strands of muscle-like tissue that are then stuck together. Post, at least so far, manually assembles them; Modern Meadow is trying 3D printing.

 

Growing those cells requires serum. Serum is the liquid left over when all of the cells are removed from blood. The serum used to make these burgers comes from fetal calves and, in later stages of the cells’ growth, from horses. Fetal calf serum is ‘harvested’ by killing a pregnant cow, cutting her still living calf from her belly and then puncturing the calf’s still beating heart. About 1 litre of serum is obtained from each calf. Producing those 20,000 strips in the first ‘lab meat’ burger probably required hundreds of liters of the stuff. That’s hundreds of fetal calves taken from slaughtered cows … all for one 4 oz. burger.

Modern Meadow says that it gets more meat from a liter of serum but their claim (as stated in The Guardian) of getting 22 lbs of meat per litre is outrageously high. I doubt very much that anyone with any experience in tissue culture believes that they’re really getting even a tenth of that. My guess would be more like a fiftieth. In any case, if one wants to grow ‘meat’ in the lab, one needs the serum.

 

And, sadly, the prospects for doing away with that serum in the process are bleak. Serum contains enormous numbers of growth factors, hormones and proteins necessary for cell growth. Expert scientists have been trying for decades to come up with an alternative but so far none matches serum in promoting cell growth and all are wildly more expensive (in dollar terms, at least) as well.

 

Still, you might say, it’s not nice to animals but it must be better for the environment. You might cite the paper that says so. It loudly claims that ‘lab meat’ would require 99% less land, 82-96% less water, even 7-45% less energy than meat produced from animals raised in Europe.

 

True, that paper is out there. It got a lot of publicity. Unfortunately, it also is just about the worst example of a failure of peer review that I have ever seen. The study is deeply flawed. Its assumptions are highly questionable, to put it mildly: i.e., that the meat would be raised as free cells in unheated vats, that 80% of the water used to grow the cells would be recycled without treatment, and that the cells would be fed entirely with cyanobacteria. None of these assumptions are even close to realistic.

 

There is not the slightest chance that meat can be grown like that. Instead, the complex mix of nutrients, growth factors and hormones found in fetal calf serum will be required. The media will have to be heated to a constant 98 or 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37-38 degrees Celsius) for the cells to grow; oxygen will have to be delivered and waste products constantly removed. Reusing even 1% of the water without treatment is extremely unlikely.

 

And, because there is no immune system in cell culture, large amounts of antibiotics and antifungal drugs will be needed to keep the growing meat from being over run with germs. The possibility of viral infections will be high.

 

Beyond those problems, growing something that approximates the beef or pork or chicken that people expect will be a daunting task. The meat that Mark Post is producing is only 100-200 micrometres (1/250th to 1/125th of an inch) thick and roughly an inch long. It is nothing like what most people would call meat.

To grow a steak or a piece of chicken will require some sort of degradable scaffold with a complex vascular system capable of bringing food and oxygen to the growing cells and taking waste and carbon dioxide away. 3D printing may help, but it’s hard to imagine a meat anything like what people think of as meat emerging from this process. (I suppose that it might be pulled off by putting the animal cells into one of the excellent plant-based meats, but what would be the point of that?!).

 

All in all, this seems insane. It is true that animal agriculture needs to go. But it does not make sense to attempt to replace it with an enormously expensive high tech system that, if it does work, is highly likely to require major inputs of blood serum. There is little chance, even, that a venture like this will ever be economically viable.

 

And there’s no need. If one feels the need for something that tastes like meat, there are already plenty of plant-based alternatives available. Field Roast, Gardein, Tofurky, Yves, etc. As noted above, ever more flavourful alternatives are on the horizon.

 

By the way, there is a new cheese alternative on the horizon, too. This one will even have plant (actually, yeast)-based casein in it. The cows’ milk protein has been engineered into the yeast. It’s not as scary as it sounds.

 

And, if you must eat meat, do the responsible thing. Eat the plant-based stuff.

 

David Steele is a molecular biologist retired in 2013 from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He has also held faculty positions at Cornell and Queen’s Universities. Dr. Steele has been Earthsave Canada‘s President since 2009. He is also a regular contributing writer to the Earthsave Canada newsletter and an occasional contributor to various other publications.

 

Categories
Cruelty-free News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted vegetarianism

Go cruelty-free this Thanksgiving

iStock_000048112116_Large

Pity the poor turkey. An inconceivable 20 million will be slaughtered in Canada in 2015, many of those destined to grace family Thanksgiving dinner tables.

Pity the turkey, the dairy cow, the chicken, the pig; in fact, pity all animals that are raised on factory farms to provide us with cheap meat and dairy products. They face horrific conditions on-farm.  Turkeys and chickens genetically bred to grow quickly suffer from constant hunger, painful lameness and searing pain from hot-blade de-beaking and de-toeing.  Dairy cows also endure painful lameness from lack of exercise, improper and dirty flooring, bad stall design and genetics – in fact, it’s estimated that 35 per cent of dairy cows in Canada are lame at any given time.  Transport and slaughter provide no relief from the cruelty, as already compromised animals are subjected to rough handling, crowded transport and questionable slaughter methods.

The legal system provides little protection for farmed animals.  The term ‘accepted management practices’  exempts  conditions such as extreme confinement, often for the entire life-span of the animal, and painful procedures such as those mentioned above. Conditions on most farms are not monitored by government, or any other independent, third party.

Even when animals are subjected to cruelty that goes beyond that accepted as “necessary”, the law provides very little in the way of redress, even when convictions are achieved.  In 2014, CBC’s Marketplace released graphic undercover footage obtained by Mercy for Animals Canada of a turkey breeder company in Ontario that supplies farms with up to 90 per cent of the turkey stock eaten in Canada.  Workers were seen attempting to kill turkeys with  broom handles and shovels, resulting in one bird being alive for more than five minutes after the bludgeoning began. Birds with open wounds and crippling injuries were left without adequate medical care.

The company and five of its employees were charged with eleven counts of animal cruelty. The company pled guilty to one count in exchange for the remaining ten being dropped. They were fined a mere $5,600.

Another case languishes in B.C. Undercover footage of Canada’s largest dairy farm in the Fraser Valley was released, again by Mercy for Animals Canada, in June, 2014. It exposed sickening abuse such as the repeated kicking and bludgeoning of dairy cows. In one case, a cow’s tail was viciously twisted until it broke.  In a complaint to police, Dr. James Reynolds, a professor of large animal medicine at Western University, called it “the most severe case(s) of animal abuse I have ever seen in 32 years as a bovine veterinarian.” Even though the BC SPCA recommended to Crown Counsel that charges be laid against the company, Chilliwack Cattle Sales, and the employees involved, more than 15 months later, no charges have been laid and the public is left to wonder why nothing has happened.

Codes of Practice exist for all farmed animals in Canada. These codes have serious deficiencies, as they don’t address most issues of public concern, such as gestation crates for sows and battery cages for hens, as well as many painful procedures. The codes are not enforced and not enshrined in law in most provinces (although the Government of B.C. recently announced that the Code of Practice for the Handling of Dairy Cattle is being incorporated into the provincial Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act) – rather, they provide minimum expectations for producers to follow. Unfortunately, there’s no way for the public to be assured that even these minimum guidelines are being followed because there is no third-party, arm’s length audit process.  This means that on-farm cruelty must be addressed by complaints from the public – a near-impossible task since most farms are out of the way and are operated behind closed and locked barn doors.

Fortunately, the public’s concerns about the treatment of farmed animals are increasingly being heard by large companies such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Starbucks and others who are demanding accountability from their suppliers.  Perhaps at some time in the future we will see all farmed animals treated with respect, dignity and empathy.

But in the meantime, pity the poor turkey and take time to contemplate that the product of such a cruel system has become a symbol for a family holiday of thankfulness. Perhaps consider extending your compassion to all animals by replacing them on your table with one of the delicious meat-free and cruelty-free alternatives so readily available, such as Tofurkey, Gardein Holiday Roast, “stuffed turk’y” and “turk’s cutlet”.

Categories
animal welfare compassion Cruelty-free Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted Uncategorized vegan vegetarianism

Meatless Monday Goes To School

Capture

School is back and we at VHS couldn’t be more excited (sorry, kids)! You’ll recall we launched our Meatless Monday program this past spring, which even as the school year was winding down, was well-received by students in the Lower Mainland. Three post-secondary schools (Langara, BCIT and Trinity Western) joined the growing movement and multiple secondary schools expressed interest in bringing the initiative to their cafeterias this fall.

Over the summer we worked with the Vancouver School Board (VSB) to develop a flyer that served as a “how-to” guide for bringing Meatless Monday to school cafeterias. The flyer also draws attention to society’s over-consumption of meat, which has forced animals into factory farms, where their lives are characterized by intensive confinement, cruelty and suffering. Educating and empowering the public through an initiative like Meatless Monday is an important step toward reducing that suffering and creating a more humane society.

As the new school year kicked off, the VSB shared the flyer with every school administrator and teacher across the district! VHS commends this support for Meatless Monday by the VSB, as it provides individual schools the tools and confidence in implementing their own Meatless Monday initiative to better the treatment of animals, the well-being of the planet and of course, the health of the students.

We look forward to helping more students take action to reduce animal suffering by bringing Meatless Monday to more classrooms and cafeterias this year! If you’re interested in implementing Meatless Monday at your school, workplace or in your community, contact Emily Pickett. Don’t forget to take the Meatless Monday pledge and receive a weekly recipe/tip to help you start your week off right!

mlm

Categories
Cruelty-free Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted Uncategorized vegan vegetarianism

Buddha-Full Fresh Juice & Smoothies: Building a cruelty-free community on the North Shore

buddhafull
Geremie Voigt and Kyla Rawlyns of Buddha-Full Fresh Juice & Smoothies. photo: Stephen Hui, the Georgia Straight

Buddha-Full Fresh Juice & Smoothies represents an ethical, 100% animal friendly, community-based environment. Geremie Voigt and Kyla Rawlyns opened the café in North Vancouver five years ago. Buddha-Full proudly serves organic fresh juices & smoothies, raw organic cuisine, organic gluten-free baked goods, a full local retail section, and locally roasted coffee from Moja.

VHS supports the growth of cruelty-free businesses and we were interested to find out more about Buddha-Full. Here’s our Q&A with Geremie and Kyla.

VHS: What inspired you to open Buddha-Full Fresh Juice & Smoothies?

G&K: We both have been vegan for many years and have always been inspired by educating our community, family and friends on veganism and a conscious living dynamic.

VHS: How have you found the reaction from the community?

G&K: Our community tells us Buddha-Full is a staple in the lower Lonsdale area.  People tell us every day it is like going to their church!

VHS: What do you enjoy most about running Buddha-Full?

G&K: Standing by our initial mission of educating our community and holding a space where people can come and feel welcome. It’s important to us that our customers feel comfortable and know they are taken care of.

VHS: What do you find is the hardest part?

G&K: Challenges will always come up. The hardest part is having some customers coming in and asking for dairy products or meat products and educating them on why we choose to maintain our animal friendly selection.

VHS: How do you stay positive in a world where animal-based products are still so predominant?

G&K: Considering that veganism has doubled since 2009 in the U.S., we know things are changing and we are making a difference in the world.  We are proud to be standing by our ethics.

VHS: What is your most popular menu item?

G&K: The Lobo Smoothie (hemp protein, dates, peanut butter, banana and almond milk), it’s a Buddha-Full staple.  Also, the Pesto Vegan Sausage wrap is one of our absolute favourite items and we make it all in house!

VHS: Who are your customers? Is there a predominant demographic?

G&K: Upwards of 60% of our customers are female. The majority of our customers are not vegan, however they are interested and curious about veganism and feel welcomed in our space!

VHS: What do you think is the best way to encourage consumers to make more ethical choices? 

G&K: Leading by example is a great way to encourage ethical choices by others.  Be the change you want to see in the world!

VHS: Do you think veganism is becoming more mainstream?

G&K: We think the world is becoming increasingly educated about and involved with animal liberation.  Everyone we meet seems to have one at least one person in their family who is vegetarian, if not vegan.  Half of Kyla’s family is now vegetarian – Now that’s progress!

VHS: What are some of the lessons you’ve learned about running a vegan business?

G&K: Having a space where everyone feels welcome is crucial. People want some sort of familiarity and seem to frequent spaces that provide that on a consistent basis.

bfull collage

 

Buddha-Full is located at 106 West 1st Street – Suite 101, North Vancouver.

Tel: (604) 973-0231

Email: bfulljuice@gmail.com

Categories
News/Blog Promoted Uncategorized vegetarianism

Almost 12 Million Canadians Now Vegetarian Or Trying To Eat Less Meat!

Action update: Check out our new Go Veg campaign

A new poll commissioned by the Vancouver Humane Society shows that 33 percent of Canadians, or almost 12 million, are either already vegetarian or are eating less meat.

That figure includes eight percent who identify as vegetarian or mostly vegetarian, as well as 25 percent who state that they are trying to eat less meat.

British Columbia is the most vegetarian-friendly province, with 13 percent of respondents identifying as vegetarian or mostly vegetarian and a further 26 percent trying to eat less meat.

Quebec and Ontario are not far behind. In Quebec, seven percent identify as vegetarian or mostly vegetarian, while a further 30 percent are trying to eat less meat. In Ontario, eight percent are vegetarian or mostly vegetarian and 23 percent are trying to eat less meat.

While younger Canadians are more likely to identify as vegetarian or mostly vegetarian, older Canadians are more likely to say that they are eating less meat. Of 18 to 34 year olds across the country, 12 percent are vegetarian or mostly vegetarian. For those 55 and up, 33 percent are trying to eat less meat, in addition to the five percent who identify as vegetarian or mostly vegetarian.

The poll, commissioned by VHS, was conducted online by Environics earlier this year, and surveyed 1507 Canadian adults.

There are so many reasons to reduce or eliminate animal products from our diets. With delicious and varied veg options increasingly available in supermarkets and restaurants, it has never been easier to explore compassionate food choices. For mouthwatering recipes and veg tips, please sign our Meatless Monday pledge!