The majority of families buy meat, eggs, or dairy on a regular basis. The general public has so much more buying power than people probably even realize.
By buying welfare-certified animal products, or more plant-based products, you send a strong message to food companies that you care about the treatment of farm animals. I always like to be an informed consumer and make good purchasing decisions. When I went vegetarian as a child, it was because I simply didn’t want to eat animals. But after educating myself for many years, it has become so much more. I always try to educate myself and be a label reader, from healthy eating to knowing where my food comes from.
The average size family spends hundreds of dollars a month on meat. So imagine if every single consumer used that buying power to purchase welfare-certified meat instead of the meat from inhumane factory farms. What a difference that would make – and what an easy change to make.
Unfortunately, most of the nearly 9 billion animals raised for meat, milk and eggs in the US are raised in inhumane factory farms. Farm animals are not the only affected, as factory farms impact human health—they can be breeding grounds for dangerous pathogens and the antibiotics used to prevent disease create the potential for dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria to develop. I became a vegetarian over 20 years ago for many reasons, including factory farm conditions and for my own health benefits.
The Shop With Your Heart initiative launched by the ASPCA attempts to harness the power of our collective purchases and demand better lives for farm animals, and gives consumers the resources to recognize, locate and demand meaningfully welfare-certified meat, eggs and dairy products as well as plant-based alternatives.
Everyone who signs the pledge also gains access to an exclusive Shop With Your Heart Grocery List, including welfare-certified and widely available plant-based brands.
Make Heart Hands for Farm Animals!
Pose with your hands in a heart shape and post a photo using the tag #shopwithyourheart and @ASPCA to let your friends know you believe in a more humane world for farm animals. Don’t forget to tell them where you shop to find more humane products—give the stores a shout-out by tagging them, too!
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