Help keep One Green Planet free and independent! Together we can ensure our platform remains a hub for empowering ideas committed to fighting for a sustainable, healthy, and compassionate world. Please support us in keeping our mission strong.

Last week, we revealed Faunalytics’ list of the top 10 food items that cause the most animal suffering in factory farms around the United States according to our new Animal Product Impact Scales. You may have been surprised to hear that over one billion days of animal suffering can be prevented if everyone in the United States stopped eating just ten products for one day, and that scrambled eggs and omelets topped the list.

Deaths in Animal Agriculture

Faunalytics’ second Impact Scale reveals the top ten products that cause the most animal deaths to feed the U.S. population. At first, this may sound silly: after all, isn’t it obvious that animals have to die to produce meat and other animal-derived food items? 

But things are much more complicated than that. Eating a meat item (say, chicken nuggets), doesn’t just contribute to the death of the animal(s) used to make each nugget. It also contributes to the death of other animals: fishes used to feed the chicken(s), other chickens who live on the factory farm but die before they can be slaughtered for their meat, and chickens who are killed because they’re viewed as “worthless” by the animal agriculture industry.

Our newest Impact Scale takes into account all of these deaths to reveal which food items cause the most animals to die each day they’re consumed in the U.S. Here are the ten products that top the list:

Lives To Feed Usa E1603764196241
The top 10 products that cause the most farmed animal deaths to feed the U.S. population per day.

Unlike the last scale (which contained mostly egg, chicken, and fish products), this scale is dominated by fish, chicken, and pork items. And if everyone in the United States stopped eating all ten of these items for just one day, it would save 28.2 million animal lives! We hope that’s enough for you to swap out your next BBQ pork chop with a delicious BBQ seitan instead.

Be Kind, Stay Kind

Remember that once you’ve successfully removed these products from your diet (or if you’re already a vegan), there is always more work to do. We can use these scales to guide our friends and family as they attempt to start their own reduction journey. We can also use them to start a conversation with loved ones who remain completely unaware of the harm they cause by supporting animal agriculture.

When you speak with your friends and family about plant-based eating, remember to be kind, patient, and understanding at all times. It’s easy for vegans and plant-based eaters to become frustrated when discussing animal suffering and deaths with omnivores. However, Faunalytics research suggests that new plant-based eaters often give up their diet due to a lack of social Support. If we truly want to put an end to animal suffering and deaths in the food system, we must be a positive influence and source of comfort for our loved ones who are at the beginning of their reduction journey.

To learn more about Faunalytics’ Animal Product Impact Scales and how we came up with 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 and Top Animal Products that Cause the Most Suffering.

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:

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

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!

Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content.Click here to Support Us