Missouri’s New ‘Meat’ Regulation Prompts Gruesome PETA Billboard
‘Meet Your Meat’: PETA Calls for True ‘Integrity’ in Marketing
For Immediate Release:
August 30, 2018
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
In response to a new Missouri law that restricts the use of the word “meat” to animal flesh—and was backed by meat-industry representatives who claim to seek “marketing with integrity” and “consumers knowing what they’re getting”—PETA plans to place a billboard in Jefferson City and Columbia that shows consumers exactly what they’re getting: Next to a cow’s bloody head are the words “Meet Your Meat. The Truth Hurts. Go Vegan.” The new law is thought to have been prompted by a panic attack in the meat industry over the astounding rise of vegan foods, including “taste-alikes” that, because they’re made of plants and nuts, contain zero cholesterol, don’t pollute the earth and waterways with animal waste, aren’t linked to environmentally devastating gas emissions, and are 100 percent humane.
“Missouri’s new law is a desperate and fruitless attempt to fight the skyrocketing popularity of humane vegan foods,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s message is that if the meat industry truly wanted informed consumers, it would put video cameras in every slaughterhouse and crowded, filthy cattle pen.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that animals used for food experience joy, pain, fear, love, and grief and value their lives, just as humans do. But in today’s meat and dairy industries, cows are forcibly separated from their beloved calves, chickens’ throats are cut while they’re still conscious, piglets are castrated without painkillers, and fish are cut open while they’re still alive.
In addition to sparing the lives of nearly 200 animals each year, people who go vegan reduce their risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and numerous other ailments. And a report by the United Nations concluded that a global switch to vegan eating is vital if we are to combat the worst effects of climate change.
PETA offers a free vegan starter kit (available here) full of recipes, tips on dining out, and more. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
