10 Meals That Cause the Most Animal Suffering Per Serving

You may be just one person, but you can make a difference for the billions of animals suffering on factory farms in the United States.

The Faunalytics team thought about this when putting together our Animal Product Impact Scales. Although our goal is to show the amount of animal suffering and death caused to feed the U.S. population as a whole, we also put together scales to show individual consumers how they can make the biggest individual impact to reduce animal suffering.

“Suffering Per Serving”

The result is a series of Animal Product Impact Scales that address “suffering per serving.” In other words, the scale I’m about to show you reveals the top 10 products that cause the most animal suffering to create a single serving of product. Unlike our previous scales, which take into account the nationwide popularity of different animal products, this individual-level list describes the impact that you can have by cutting out one specific product versus another (all else being equal). 

If you’re trying to understand which foods on your plate are the most harmful to animals, this scale is for you:

Trying to prevent millions of animals from suffering every day may feel like an impossible goal for a single person, but preventing 12 days of suffering by avoiding just one serving of battered fish filets? That’s a much easier accomplishment! If you’re still at the beginning of your reduction journey, you might consider cutting out one product at a time, working your way down the list of products. Alternatively, if you’re a vegetarian who finds it difficult to remove both eggs and dairy from your diet at the same time, our scale suggests you should try cutting out eggs first (especially diced eggs).

Remember, each time that you avoid these 10 products, you (yes, you!) are preventing more than 66 days of animal suffering from taking place. From that perspective, Meatless Monday is looking better and better!

Navigating The Road Ahead

Everyone’s road to reduction looks different, but for those of us changing our diet to make the world a better place for animals, we share the same end-goal. With plenty of plant-based recipes to choose from, your next family dinner will be as tasty as always, minus the animal cruelty.

As you continue to ask your loved ones to consider animal product reduction, remember that you’re not alone. Here at Faunalytics, our mission is to help advocates like you be as effective as possible. Have a search through our research library for some ideas about the best messaging to use when conducting reduction advocacy, and please feel free to reach out to us if you’re struggling to find resources to Support your efforts.

To learn more about Faunalytics’ Animal Product Impact Scales and how we arrived at our numbers, click here. You can also read more about Faunalytics research in Top 10 Animal Products to Stop Eating Now Based on Which Animals Suffer the Most, Top Animal Products that Cause the Most Suffering, Top 10 Foods that Cause Most Animal Deaths and Leave These Foods Off Your Thanksgiving Table to Reduce Animal Suffering.

Here are some delicious plant-based “meaty” recipes to get you started!

• 5 Tips to Make Meatless Food Taste Meaty
• 10 Ways to Make Meaty Recipes with Veggies!
• 15 Hearty and Meaty Mushroom Recipes
• 15 Bean-Based Meatballs that are Packed with Protein!
• 12 Delicious Recipes for Vegan Chicken Nuggets, Tenders, and Fingers!
• 20 Amazing ‘Fried Chicken’ Recipes That Are Totally Vegan
• 15 Smoky and Salty Vegan Bacon Recipes
• 15 Vegan Sausages For Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
• 15 High-Protein Savory Seitan “Wheat Meat” Recipes

Learn How to Cook Meatless Plant-Based Meals at Home!

Reducing your meat intake and eating more plant-based foods is not only good for animals but is known to help with chronic inflammation, heart health, mental wellbeing, fitness goals, nutritional needs, allergies, gut health, and more! Dairy consumption also has been linked to many health problems, including acne, hormonal imbalance, cancer, prostate cancer and has many side effects.

For those of you interested in eating more plant-based, we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App — with over 15,000 delicious recipes it is the largest plant-based recipe resource to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy! And, while you are at it, we encourage you to also learn about the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet.

Here are some great resources to get you started:

• Weekly Vegan Meal Plans
• Plant-Based Health Resources
• Plant-Based Food & Recipes
• Plant-Based Nutrition Resources
• The Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition
• Budget-Friendly Plant-Based Recipes
• High Protein Plant-Based Recipes
• Plant-Based Meal Prep

For more Animal, Earth, Life, Vegan Food, Health, and Recipe content published daily, subscribe to the One Green Planet Newsletter! Lastly, being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!