PETA to Planters: Promote Vegan Eating With NUTmobiles!
For Immediate Release:
February 17, 2021
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
After Planters put out a call for people to drive its promotional snack-distributing NUTmobiles around the country, PETA sent a letter to Jim Snee, the CEO of Hormel Foods Corporation, which recently acquired Planters, with a suggestion. Since a quarter of Hormel’s sales will now be from nonmeat products—and interest in vegan eating is higher than ever—PETA suggested teaming up to create downloadable vegan recipe booklets featuring delicious peanut-based dishes, such as Asian Ginger-Peanut Slaw, Peanut Soup, and Peanut Noodle Salad.
“It’s nuts not to embrace vegan fare when we know that today’s meat industry is responsible for killing billions of animals a year and devastating the environment,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA is encouraging Hormel to seize the peanut and promote the plant-powered proteins that today’s diners want.”
PETA owns stock in Hormel and recently pushed the company at its virtual annual meeting to build upon its existing vegan line, Happy Little Plants, and make the transition to producing exclusively vegan meats.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”— opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Snee follows.
February 17, 2021
Jim Snee
Chair of the Board, President, and CEO
Hormel Foods
Dear Mr. Snee:
On behalf of PETA and our more than 6.5 million members and supporters worldwide, congratulations on your acquisition of Planters. We are big nut fans! And as a shareholder, we’re excited that this purchase includes the NUTmobile fleet, which we understand will be traveling across the country soon to showcase the brand. Since 25% of Hormel’s sales will now be from meat-free products, the NUTmobile tour presents an excellent opportunity to showcase vegan recipes.
As we noted in the recent annual meeting, Hormel can take advantage of the explosive growth of vegan foods. We’re hoping the NUTmobiles will do just that by distributing recipe booklets that include all-vegan recipes using peanuts, including Thai peanut curry and tofu peanut noodles. Creative cooks are now using peanuts and other nuts as replacements for meat in recipes, and it’s a great time to be part of that trend.
As you may know, analysts predict that the vegan meat market will thrive at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 20%. Sales of vegan meats have surged since the pandemic began: One study notes a 454% increase in sales last March compared with the previous year, and UBS financial services company forecasts that the plant-based meat market will grow by 28% a year and reach $85 billion by 2030.
Will you please take this opportunity to use the NUTmobile fleet to drive Hormel’s future market share upward by distributing recipe booklets that are also downloadable? PETA would be happy to help create them or to suggest recipe ideas. We look forward to hearing from you.
Very truly yours,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President
