Germany’s Catholic and Protestant churches are being called upon to procure more plant-based foods and reduce their meat consumption
Food awareness organisation, ProVeg International, is supporting a new initiative in Germany that calls upon the country’s Protestant and Catholic churches to ensure that their communities procure more plant-based food in their institutions and when holding events.
The “Church Animal Welfare Label” initiative is led by Will-Kirche-Tierschutz, a newly formed organisation born from ProVeg’s Kickstarting for Good programme, which helps launch new non-profits.
The initiative aims to ensure that the two leading German church organisations procure less food from factory farms and offer more plant-based meals.
“This is an important impact initiative to create institutional change and increase public awareness which ProVeg is very pleased to support,” Sebastian Joy, co-founder and President of ProVeg International, said.
“Churches hold a position of great influence in society and any decisions by these institutions on procuring more plant-based food and replace food from factory farms will send out a clear message to congregations about the positive difference we can make with our daily meals,” Joy added.
Currently, 96% of all meat products consumed in Germany comes from intensive livestock farming.
Under the initiative, regional Protestant and Catholic Churches will be called on, by 2025, to ensure that their respective communities label their food under four categories of the Church Animal Welfare Label as follows:
● Conventional factory farming: For food served by church communities or institutions that produce animal products sourced from conventional factory farming.
● Organic: For food served by church communities or institutions that source food produced organically or produced from higher animal husbandry standards as a minimum standard.
● Vegetarian: For food served by church communities or institutions that are at least exclusively vegetarian and have a consistent vegan offering.
● Vegan: For food served by church communities or institutions that offer climate-friendly and healthy plant-based food.
Whilst Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany have issued position papers expressing their opposition to factory farming, church communities around the country are currently left to make their own decisions about whether to procure climate-friendly or animal-friendly food.
Will-Kirche-Tierschutz was formed during the first ever Kickstarting for Good cohort, a programme run by the ProVeg Incubator, part of ProVeg International. Kickstarting for Good is the world’s first incubator and accelerator programme aimed specifically at nonprofit organisations, impact initiatives, and social startups working on transforming the food system. Find out more at https://provegincubator.com/kickstartingforgood/
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Notes to Editors
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About ProVeg International
ProVeg International is a food awareness organisation with the mission to replace 50% of animal products globally with plant-based and cultivated foods by 2040. Our vision is a world where everyone chooses delicious and healthy food that is good for all humans, animals, and our planet.
