PETA Owns Shares in Domino’s, Introduces ‘Time for Vegan Toppings’ Resolution

National Chain Execs to Face PETA Push to Follow Other Restaurants’ Lead and Offer Animal-Friendly, Vegan Cheese and Pepperoni

For Immediate Release:
April 20, 2015

Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382

On April 21, Domino’s Pizza’s 2015 annual meeting will include a shareholder resolution from PETA calling on the company to respond to the rising demand for vegan options by adding animal-friendly, vegan cheese and meat to its menus across the country. PETA, which owns stock in the company, will point out the sweeping benefits of vegan meals for animals, the environment, and human health.

PETA will also point to the opportunity to draw in a surging market of vegan consumers. Numerous pizza chains—including zpizza, Pieology, Mellow Mushroom, and more—have responded to this demand by adding melty dairy-free cheese and vegan meats, IKEA recently added vegan meatballs, and Chipotle, Subway, Red Robin, and many other chains now also offer vegan meats.

“As the popularity of vegan foods soars, PETA is asking Domino’s to offer customers sausage that doesn’t come from squealing pigs and cheese that comes from cashews, not cows,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “With a selection of tasty vegan toppings, Domino’s can expand its market and give animals abused by the meat, egg, and dairy industries a break from being a piece of the pie.”

As documented by PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—male calves in the dairy industry are taken away from their mothers shortly after birth and chained inside tiny crates so that the milk that was meant for them can be sold to humans, while cows on dairy farms often have their sensitive horn tissue burned or gouged out of their heads. When their milk production declines after a few years of artificial insemination and chronic neglect and abuse, cows are shipped to slaughter.

In addition to sparing animals immense suffering, vegan options contain none of the saturated animal fat or cholesterol that meat, eggs, and dairy products do—and plant-based foods also have a lower carbon footprint, as animal agriculture is a leading contributor to climate change.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.