ISS Guckenheimer, a leading food services provider that seeks to deliver chef-crafted fresh food to its customers, has pledged to make 55% of its menu options plant-based by 2025. This is the strongest commitment to date from any food service management company. As a signatory to the Cool Food...

The Humane Society of the United States has just published its annual report evaluating food service companies on their environment and animal welfare commitments. The HSUS Protein Sustainability Scorecard assesses which companies are actually keeping their sustainability promises and which are...

It’s not easy to accept that all things must eventually come to an end. We often go into denial in the face of the inevitable and airbrush away the aftermath when it does occur. So it probably shouldn’t have surprised me to read about a gardener who glossed over the demise of an entire tree with...

Plan for your livestock Write down a list of emergency telephone numbers, including those of your employees, neighbors, veterinarian, state veterinarian, poison control, local animal shelter, animal care and control, county extension service, local agricultural schools, trailering resources and...

(Each report is available as a downloadable PDF.) Pigs About Pigs [PDF] Animal Welfare in the Pig Industry [PDF] Economics of Alternatives to Gestation Crates [PDF] The Welfare of Intensively Confined Animals [PDF] Scientists and Experts: Gestation Crates [PDF] Welfare Issues with Gestation Crates...

This press release was updated at 2:35 p.m. EST on May 23, 2024. WASHINGTON—Pig producers, pork distributors and animal advocates decried the House of Representatives’ Farm Bill (the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024) that will likely be voted out of the Agriculture Committee today. They...

There’s a surprisingly simple way to make a big difference in the lives of animals: incorporating more plant-based foods. The more plants you eat, the more animals you’ll spare from lives of suffering. Fewer mother pigs will be kept in crates so small they can barely move. Fewer egg-laying hens will...

They were like moths to a flame or, more accurately, butterflies to a native plant. No sooner had I unloaded two joe-pye weed perennials from my car last August than three tiger swallowtails dive-bombed the pots, as if to validate my purchase. If only my fellow shoppers knew what they were missing...

Much of what we do in the name of aesthetics comes at a cost to our overall well-being. From fad diets to chemical peels to cosmetic surgeries, beauty routines attempt to squash what’s natural in favor of an unattainable and short-lived “otherness.” The mindset isn’t limited to the treatment of our...

WASHINGTON — On January 1, California’s 2018 ballot measure Proposition 12, which set landmark prohibitions on the sale of food products from farm animals locked in cruel and extreme confinement, will be fully implemented in the state. Proposition 12’s egg and veal provisions have been in place for...

Rochester Institute of Technology has committed to having 50% plant-based offerings on menus by 2025, in collaboration with the Humane Society of the United States.   As part of this effort, HSUS chefs provided an in-person plant-based culinary training to the university culinary staff. These events...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – With meat and dairy alternatives rising in popularity, Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE) , a national foodservice management company that specializes in K-12 nutrition, has collaborated with the Humane Society of the United States to bring plant-based options to the...

Walk into a roadside restaurant after a long day on the highway, and you can practically taste your meal before sitting down. The familiar smells of fresh-baked pie and salty fries need little introduction en route to your belly. That sensory experience is similar for wildlife coming upon lush...

While soaking her raised beds in preparation for tomato planting last summer, Gail Goldman was startled to see a tiny, waterlogged creature pop up out of the soil. Later another one briefly poked out his head. “Basically, I was watering shrews,” the Seattle gardener says of her foiled vegetable...

It starts out mildly enough: Heading to work on the subway, you realize you forgot your wallet. No big deal, you think. I’ll borrow money to get home. Soon the lights go out and the train hurtles toward the sky, speeding through the atmosphere. Time passes—it’s hard to tell how long. The subway is...

Pop quiz: What’s the best way to help butterflies in your backyard? If you answered “Plant butterfly bush,” you’re in good company. A recent survey of my gardening friends elicited the same response from more than a few. It’s easy to understand why: Aside from its self-reinforcing moniker, the plant...

Imagine a chicken. Picture her downy white feathers and small, intense eyes. Maybe she’s sitting on a nest, softly clucking. Perhaps she’s scratching in the dirt, a quaint red barn in silhouette behind her. Cows graze contentedly nearby; a pig snuffles in the mud. It’s an idyllic vision, familiar...

Most animals in our food system live in dismal conditions. Mother pigs are locked in gestation crates so small they can’t turn around. Egg-laying hens are crammed into cages so tightly they can’t even spread their wings. And chickens in the poultry industry are bred to grow so large so fast that...

Our food system has a significant impact on the environment in various ways. One of the key factors is the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) produced by the global food system, which accounts for 20% to 37% of all GHGs. Animal products, such as meat and dairy, have a much larger environmental...