There is Increasing Consumer Demand for Plant Based Diets.
If you do eat meat – eat higher welfare. Higher welfare animal products cause less animal suffering. Buying them will encourage investment in higher welfare farming which is smaller scale and poses fewer risks to animals, people and the planet.
Animal welfare should be at the core of our food choice. We can decide not to purchase factory farmed meat, poultry, milk, eggs and buy products from farms with high animal welfare conditions, where animals are reared free range and cage free and cows on pastures.
As demand for livestock products continues to surge, particularly in developing countries, the importance of ethically sourced food becomes more important than ever as more animals are farmed.
We want a kinder future for future generations which extends to the billions of animals reared for consumption. We care about the environment and the ethical treatment of animals.
Buying free-range is the simplest thing you can do to help the hens that lay eggs.
If you eat meat, the simplest thing you can do to help is to buy free-range chicken and poultry, free-range pork (or make sure it’s outdoor bred & reared) and grass-fed beef and lamb.
Cheap meat usually comes at a price – one paid by the farm animals and often the environment too.
Buying Dairy
Look for organic dairy products, particularly Soil Association, to guarantee dairy cows have access to pasture grazing.
Buying Fish
As wild fishing stocks collapse through over-fishing, fish farming is growing rapidly. In 1970 only around 5% of the fish we ate came from farms. Today half of the fish we eat is farmed. Some scientists have predicted that by 2048, stocks of all species of sea fish will have collapsed, forcing us to rely almost exclusively on farmed fish.
If you do buy farmed fish, buy Soil Association organic for higher welfare standards. Otherwise fish may have suffered in over-crowded tanks, experienced unacceptable periods of starvation and been slaughtered inhumanely. They are capable of feeling pain, fear and psychological stress (Compassion In World Farming).
Buy Meat Alternatives
The UN states that cutting back on meat is an essential part of preventing the degradation of our environment. The UN Environment tweeted in April 2019:
“Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat were chosen as UN Environment Champions of the Earth. Both Startups make plant-based alternatives to meat and business is booming.
In the United States meat-focused restaurant chains are now featuring the companies products. Livestock is responsible for over 9% of global gas emissions.”
