Food

My name is Kathy Freston. I'm an author of books like Clean Protein and The Book of Veganish, and some of you may have seen me talking about healthy living and conscious eating with Ellen Degeneres, Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Oz, or others on television or in print. I've been fortunate enough to reach millions of people with a positive message, and with this petition I’m hoping to bring a positive change to America with a mainstream meatless option at McDonald’s! Adding plant-based protein options at McDonald's will appeal to workers out for a quick lunch, families with health-conscious members out to dinner, children on field trips, and anyone looking for something different than the current menu at McDonald’s where even the french fries contain beef flavoring (they don't in Europe, incidentally)! According to a recent survey, more than one-third of Americans already buy meat substitutes for reasons that range from health to ethics! So why not make a meatless option available at one of America’s favorite restaurant chains for everyone to enjoy? Healthy living should be about progress, not perfection, and this is an easy step that McDonald’s could be taking. Sales of meat substitutes in the U.S. bring in over $553 million a year and visionaries like Bill Gates of Microsoft and Evan Williams and Biz Stone of Twitter are helping fund some of the many meatless options in development for mass markets. Meanwhile competitors like Chipotle have new braised tofu Sofritas, Tropical Smoothie added vegan chicken strips, and Burger King has a veggie burger! That's not even getting into the fact that KFC has vegan chicken in Canada (really, try it!), Subway already has a veggie patty, and McDonald's Canada has veggie wraps!  We Americans love a protein center to our meal, so veggies and salads alone (or even in a wrap) won’t do the trick; we want something hearty and protein-centric just like the burgers and sandwiches you already have, only with something plant-based instead. In September, McDonald's partnered with President Bill Clinton (who improved his own health by eating plant-based foods) and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to make some youth marketing improvements, but still left me and many members of the public wondering about people of all ages looking to lower cholesterol, reduce saturated fat intake, and cut calories. Offering an option that is completely without animal products is ideal, not only for those who don’t eat animal products for ethical reasons, but for those who are lactose intolerant or have egg allergies. Like many Americans, I’m over this "all or nothing" way of thinking by powerful decision makers in the government and in the corporate world. We need to work together to find positive ways to work towards common goals like eating healthier, farming sustainably, and treating animals with respect. In that spirit, one very simple step can come from fast food giant McDonald's adding a healthy, plant-based item to the menu in the United States. Truly, there can be something for everyone! Please sign my petition to support adding a healthy, meatless option at McDonald's.

Many people are making PB&J everyday; but not even realizing that they are making it the wrong way. This petition is to make a change to the lives of everyone, everywhere. They must see the truth with their own eyes. The Jelly goes on the bottom! The Peanut Butter goes on top! Change millions of lives everywhere and people’s concept of reality. This change will fix the way every person creates PB&J, and if we get to a million signatures, it may even be called J&PB. Please help me and the food community show everyone how wrong they are when they end up putting the Jelly on the top. Thank You.   (I am not sponsoring anyone, nor is my goal to make money, my goal is to let the people see the truth.)

When you walk into Albertsons or one of its subsidiary grocery stores, like Safeway, VONS, Jewel-Osco, Acme or Shaw’s, you expect the products on the shelves to be safe. But new laboratory testing indicated the likely presence of PFAS chemicals in samples of the company’s store-brand products and food service ware it uses. PFAS chemicals are contaminating the drinking water of millions of people across America. This toxic contamination is a public health crisis and more needs to be done to end the use of these chemicals in products like food packaging. Tell Albertsons, America’s second-largest grocery company, to get toxic PFAS chemicals off its shelves! Giant chemical corporations like DuPont have pushed the use of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) for their ability to make food packaging grease- and water-resistant. But these harmful chemicals can leach from the packaging's grease-resistant coating into the food we eat. And after the packaging is discarded, these ultra-persistent chemicals can end up in compost, soil, and drinking water. It makes no sense to use toxic chemicals in food packaging that can persist in the environment for generations to come! PFAS chemicals have been linked to cancer, liver damage, and immune suppression. Studies have found them in the blood of nearly every American tested, including newborns. They have no place in the products we buy. New lab testing found that PFAS chemicals were likely present in eight of the ten items tested from Albertsons and Safeway stores. Tested samples included bags of store-brand organic and conventional microwave popcorn, store-brand dental floss and even plates used under store bakery cakes. Enough is enough! Tell Albertsons to keep PFAS chemicals off the shelves at all of its stores, including Safeway, VONS, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw’s, Randalls, and Tom Thumb! Both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have pledged action on PFAS. In contrast, Albertsons has yet to make a public commitment on these chemicals. As the second-largest dedicated grocery chain in America, with more than 2,200 stores and $60 billion in annual sales, Albertsons has the market power and a moral responsibility to ensure the food and products it sells don’t contain toxic chemicals like PFAS.

The Bronx Zoo has been given the shameful title of the 5th worst zoo for elephants in the country. The New York Times calls Happy the Bronx Zoo’s loneliest elephant. That’s because this highly intelligent and social being is one of the only zoo elephants in the entire United States who is being held alone. And it looks like her living conditions won’t change anytime soon unless we do something about it. I am asking you, my fellow animal lovers, to encourage the Bronx Zoo Director James J. Breheny to release Happy to a sanctuary where she can be in a more natural setting and live the rest of her life in peace. New standards regarding the keeping of elephants were recently passed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the accrediting organization for American wildlife institutions. Among their recommendations was that elephants be held in groups of three or more, as they are highly social creatures. Now, zoos around the country  are scrambling to comply with the regulations by AZA’s 2016 deadline. Yet, the Bronx Zoo seems steadfast in its opinion that Happy is “happy” with her solitary life. This goes against all scientific data about elephant behavior. Happy and 6 other elephant calves were captured in the wild from Thailand and brought to the States in 1977. For 25 years, she and her companion, Grumpy, were kept as a pair in the Bronx Zoo. When Grumpy passed away, she was paired with Sammy, who sadly died in 2006. It was then that the zoo decided to end its elephant program, but it didn’t relocate the elephants it currently had. For 10 years, Happy has been in a sort of solitary confinement, unable to truly interact with the other elephants held at the zoo. This is a social being like a monkey or a dolphin. Elephants thrive in the company of their own kind, where they form multi-generational family groups that remain loyal to one another for life, and the elders pass wisdom down to the younger ones to help them navigate their world. Happy is likely not at all happy. She has endured a decade of loneliness and deserves the chance to be with others of her kind in a sanctuary. Please join me in telling the Bronx Zoo to release Happy to a sanctuary and let her really have a chance at happiness.