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244- If you can't give your vegan money to McDonalds anymore...
120 Plays1 month ago
GIVE IT TO US!!!!! Yes, that's right, we now have a Ko-Fi page, where you can opt into making a small donation towards improving the sound quality of our podcasts! https://ko-fi.com/ENOUGHOFTHEFALAFEL is the place to head, if you value what we do & feel inclined to make a small financial contribution towards our running costs.
But of course you wouldn't have that money if McDonalds had kept all their vegan options on the menu. Alas, 80% of their vegan options have been dropped this week. The last bastion of vegan activism on the High Street has gone! Quelle surprise....
As well as looking at this story, Shane, Julie & Ant dissect eight other bits of news from the last 7 days in the vegan & animal rights space.
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Enough of the Falafel is a community of people who love keeping on top of the latest news in the world of veganism & animal rights. With the Vegan Week podcast, we aim to keep listeners (& ourselves) informed & up-to-date with the latest developments that affect vegans & non-human animals; giving insight, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we look through news stories from the past 7 days in the world of veganism & animal rights.
If you spot any news stories that might catch our fancy, or have an idea for a discussion topic, get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
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This week's stories:
https://www.telford-live.com/2026/01/thousands-of-people-signed-petition-objecting-to-chicken-farm-plans/
https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/free-zoe-rally-calls-on-newsom-to-pardon-animal-rights-activist/article_6db8813f-c8a6-4f34-a1f0-6b2225488998.html
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2026/01/25/bird-flu-found-in-a-cow-for-the-first-time-in-the-netherlands/
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/climate/epa-animal-testing-ban.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GlA.sO5B.e-3J-LGjhktB&smid=url-share
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3eddk53vxqo
https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/262471/norway-to-phase-out-frankenchickens-by-2027-in-landmark-animal-welfare-move/
https://proveg.org/press-release/amsterdam-to-become-first-capital-city-to-ban-meat-advertising/
https://www.philstarlife.com/amp/article/333618-elephant-rides-in-indonesia-banned
https://nationalpigassociation.co.uk/members-ony-animal-rights-campaign-update/ (just to note that this is blocked!)
https://vegconomist.com/gastronomy-food-service/fast-food/mcdonalds-uk-discontinues-vegetarian-options/
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Shane, Julie & Ant
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Transcript
Introduction to Vegan Week Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone, if you're looking for vegan and animal rights news, you can stop looking, you've found us, you're in the right place. I'm Anthony, joining me for this episode of Vegan Week are Julie and Shane, but that's enough of the falafel, let's get on and hear what's been going on in the news.
00:00:18
Speaker
So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for. Brrr! Roaty. Take your flat-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida.
00:00:30
Speaker
Should I call the medium and say, hi, sorry. True education. The younger generation are getting know how brutal these practices are. That leaves a lot of pizza delivery companies in problems with things.
00:00:42
Speaker
What this? What kind of movie is this? It's comedy gold, maybe. Any form of social injustice.
00:00:52
Speaker
As long as you didn't get the wee brunions with the horns, you'll be alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:01:01
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. Hey everyone, this is Shane. Welcome to Vegan Week. Thank you for listening. We are so glad that you're here. Hi, everybody. It's Julie here. Just to let you know, this is our news show where we look through the vegan and animal rights news from the last week or so. But that's enough of the falafel. Let's hear what's been going on this week.
00:01:28
Speaker
For more details on the upcoming news stories, including links to our original source material, check out our show notes for this episode available on your podcast player.
Zoe Rosenberg's House Arrest: Activism or Crime?
00:01:41
Speaker
Okay, for our first story this week, we are revisiting a story that has been featured in the last few months of shows with good reason, because a vegan activist, Zoe Rosenberg, as many of you will know, is currently serving a house arrest. They're in their 90-day custodial sentence. They're allowed out to go and do their university classes because Zoe is a University of California Berkeley student. She has also got a rather big fine hanging over her head. Why are we reporting this story this week? Well, there has have been a big old rally on campus at the University of Berkeley. It was on the 23rd of January calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon
00:02:28
Speaker
Zoe after these charges have been levelled against us. So just a quick review for those who haven't heard the first few stories we've given on this case before. A few years ago, 2023, she rescued four very poorly chickens from a poultry slaughterhouse and last October she was convicted of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor charges for the rescue.
00:02:56
Speaker
Shane, the picture is really quite moving. I think for those of us who have followed the story, do you think this is going to make a difference? um I don't know, because I'm not sure why Gavin Newsom would would pardon her. I know why she wants the pardon, probably for two reasons. One, that part of her sentence s is that she is restricted from organizing and collaborating with animal rights activists. So She works with DXC and she probably can't can't work with them um as part of her sentence. And then the other thing is that I think maybe the pardon would cancel that one hundred thousand dollars in restitution. I'm not sure, but I think it might. So that's probably why she's asking for the pardon.
00:03:41
Speaker
And I know there's been a petition that's launched more than 40,000 signatures. Now there's been this event. um I think she has a good point. And I just don't know how much of an animal advocate Gavin Newsom is. um her Her point, though, is that they're challenging this restitution, whether or not she gets a pardon, because one of the reasons that Purdue's Petaluma Poultry Company argued for that amount for the $100,000 is because they claimed that her rescue of those chickens caused production delays.
00:04:14
Speaker
And she says that the amount they're claiming was lost, and the idea that they had to delay production in and the first place, given that I was on the property for an incredibly short amount of time, and they didn't even know I was there, is just pretty ridiculous. And she thinks it's just an attempt to silence whistleblowers. And um if Gavin Newsom were to see it that way, which I think I mean, really, unless you're biased toward the agricultural industry, i don't see how you can't see it that way, then he might consider it.
00:04:43
Speaker
But I just don't know if this is a big enough um story in the mainstream for him to take part in it. Well, yeah, and he's going up against animal ag really, isn't he? Because as you say, and as Zoe is saying, like this, this huge, huge fine that she's been given is seemingly out of all proportion. And it really does seem to be a deterrent so ah you know a governor going up against that i mean that sort of thing has happened in the past let's not write it off but i would have thought if nothing else the support that zoe is seeing there for her and and the animals that she's standing up on behalf of that's that's doing something isn't it uh He's also on the shortlist of candidates who are going to be running for president in 2028. So he's probably got that in the back of his mind, too. Like, you know, do I want to anger the agricultural industry? I mean, California is very big ag state, but, you know, you've got a lot of other states that are as well. Indeed. I've just got his Wikipedia page up in front of me at the moment. And other than seeing he's got his podcast himself and he's managed and founded lots of businesses. I can't see any yeah non-human animal sympathies there, but ah we'll keep our fingers crossed. Thank you for that one, Shane. We're going to stay stateside. We know lots of you listeners mail from the US of A and we've got another positive sounding story with regards to animal testing.
EPA's Animal Testing Ban by 2035: Progress or Delay?
00:06:12
Speaker
or indeed the phasing out of it. This comes to us from the New York Times. EPA promises a ban on animal testing by 2035. Now these headlines can often be misleading. That sounds like all animal testing is being banned. Not quite that straightforward. Looks like it's going to be the end of testing of chemicals on mammals. and So rabbits, mice, rats and other mammals um would be free from having chemicals tested on them to to see their toxicity.
00:06:44
Speaker
By 2035, goodness me, that's a long way away, even if that does go through. The new policy was announced in the last few days um and it's been reviving an effort that began during President Trump's first term in office. Then, of course, he was out of office for four years and it seems that that That timeline was dropped during the Biden administration when scientists concluded that a phase out was premature.
00:07:11
Speaker
But it's back on the cards now. Julie, you've taken a look at this. What have you made of this? Because very often the devil is in the detail with these things, isn't it Yeah, well, it's one of these things, I think, where it's a situation where, although animal rights are absolutely not the main driver of this change, it is a positive outcome for animals. The main driver for this change...
00:07:36
Speaker
appears to be new technology being available that will give people the answers that they need and when researching chemicals and medicines made from them etc um you know a much quicker rate and much more cost effectively so it is it's just about profit and getting ahead of competitors and things like that it's not about the animals but there is a recognition that Two things, I think, that raising animals to then use in experiments is a really long way round to do research. um And I think there is a general feeling from voters that that they don't want that, that they don't want to support that. So, yeah, I think it is a good thing. And although 2035, it does does sound like a very long way away,
00:08:30
Speaker
Don't forget that in the lead up to that, you know, from now on in, it means that the pace of change will need to accelerate and that the alternatives will need to be put in place and that little animals that would otherwise be being bred, you know, for use in experimentation, that, you know, hopefully that won't be happening to the same extent because they won't be needed. So the numbers will be reducing all the time. Because I think people forget about that. It's not even just the amount of animals that are used in research and experiments. It's the amount that are bred and kept in ca captivity in horrible unnatural conditions. And not all of them make the grade to be used in studies. And they they're just killed, you know, and not humanely, you know, with ah a little cuddle and a little injection either they're you know they're killed by various means that are cheap and quick and horrific so there's a huge amount of suffering huge numbers of animals are involved so any reduction in that is a good thing absolutely for sure And for us as consumers and recipients of health care, wherever we live, this is in the States and the States are leading the way, which is great. And where they lead, other countries will follow, which is a brilliant thing. They've already done a lot to prohibit the sale of cosmetics tests on animals in quite a lot of states of America. They've really done a lot. And as I say, I think other countries will follow their lead worldwide. But wherever we are in the world, as I say, as consumers and recipients of healthcare, care even as consumers of our own free national health service here in the yeah UK, we can let healthcare care providers and companies know that we want cruelty-free medicines and products and you and and things that don't contain animal ingredients and stuff like that. We can still let that... and be known and get that message out there and we can support organizations that are campaigning for change and that are developing animal free research so we can all kind of play our part in this as well
00:10:51
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And it it all just questions the accepted notion that this is an essential thing that has to happen. Animal testing, I think almost everyone that says, well, yeah, it should happen, is is doing so because they think, well, there's no alternative. And so just hearing more and more mainstream places, whether they're governments, organisations or what have you, saying, no, we don't have to do this. I think that starts to nudge the dial.
00:11:17
Speaker
doesn't it Well, I like that phrase that's come into use now, human relevant methods, yeah you know? yeah yeah I think that's that's much more reassuring for anybody, I think, because it actually, you know, it kind of it tells you what really the animal stuff is, is if you know what i mean. and yeah i'd I'd quite like any medicine that I use to be a human relevant tested. Human relevant, yes, for that, yes. Yeah, absolutely. And just a little teaser for a story that we've got coming up. If you think that things need to wait till 2035 to change on a large scale, just watch this space. Just check back in about 20 minutes time for a particular story. Oh, anti-tantalizing. Right, let's move on to a story in the UK. In fact, probably about 40 minutes drive from my front door. This is from Telford Live.
Controversy Over Large Chicken Farm Plan
00:12:10
Speaker
Thousands of people signed petition objecting to chicken farm plans. This is a huge unit, 200,000 birds on the Shropshire-Staffordshire border. and The person submitting the report, or rather um a spokesperson for Mr Sankey, has said that in the worst case, the development will accommodate 200,000 birds. It's a really interesting use of language for somebody proposing something. is like...
00:12:38
Speaker
What are you trying to say here? Well, yeah, worst case scenario. but I don't know whether they're saying that that's not very many or or it's loads. There'll be eight feed bins which have the capacity of 30 tonnes.
00:12:50
Speaker
All the details are in this article, which I will say, i mean, it's not going to be for everyone, but if you do follow the link in the in the show notes to read this, you can see the exact dimensions and things like this. And you can kind of get a scale for these things because we have a a chicken farm about a mile from my front door and And I've found online that there's about 40,000 birds inside there. And you would not think it to look at it.
00:13:13
Speaker
You really wouldn't. And I think just understanding the scale of these things can help our advocacy. The proposal has attracted 27 objections so far. That was as of the 26th of January when this story was published. including that of the local parish council, that's Albrighton and Donington, which says that the site is too close to Albrighton, resulting in residents having to contend with hours of uncomfortable smells. and There's also been a petition organised by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Peter. More than 21,000 people had signed that at the time that this article was. was published. um And unsurprisingly, Peter is putting forward the animal rights perspective. Shane, I doubt, I doubt a lot of the objections, including those that we've heard, are animal rights ones.
00:14:06
Speaker
It does show that people don't want this stuff going on in their area, doesn't it? No, of course, they don't want this in their area, because it's going to be inconvenient for them. It will smell bad, And they might have to contend with trucks full of birds going to to slaughter. But it has to go somewhere if people are going to keep eating meat.
00:14:25
Speaker
It has to go somewhere. And so this is kind of, I don't know if you have this phrase in the UK, but we say the NIMBYs, that's not in my backyard. And so this is, you know, one of those situations where what we don't want it in our backyard, let's put it somewhere else, you know, maybe in a poorer area where people, i don't know anything about this area, maybe it is already poor, but where, you know, the people would have to contend with that. And I think another thing they might object to is that not only is it going to smell bad, but there's going to be all that waste that they could be exposed to. You know, you you mentioned that you that in the facility near your house, you wouldn't have known there were 40,000 birds in it. That's because they're, of course, packed
00:15:04
Speaker
so close together, which then can lead to illnesses. There's a story that I'm going talk about in a little bit about bird flu, and that can be an issue and for not just the chickens, but for other livestock and animals and maybe even people. So yeah, this is this is a horrible idea, but um if we don't want these kinds of facilities, then we have to make a change.
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah. And actually, the justification that they're using in this article is saying, oh, this will contribute to national objectives for greater self-sufficient in poultry production. That's not really a reason, is it? Like, it's it's completely self-fulfilling. And like you say, there's all sorts of problems. And the only reason you would know that there is a chicken farm just down the road from me is the smell.
00:15:51
Speaker
You know, you can't get away from that. you You simply can't, literally. um And, you know, that's that's the thing, isn't it? That's what we're opting into no matter where we live. If we choose to pay a supermarket, to pay a farm, to do these things, you're you're having to make people kill them, make people live in and around this stench, this biohazard and everything. It's it's all attached. There's no no nice way of doing it. So yeah, not going to be the biggest story of the week, but an interesting insight into the status quo. Let's hope more people can sign that petition. a Follow the link in the show notes. You can get your name on there too. Thank you, Shane. Let's move over to a story from the BBC. However, it is reporting on something many, many hundreds and thousands of
Mass Killings of Stray Dogs in Telangana: Local Government Involved?
00:16:40
Speaker
miles away. In India, we have reported on the spate of dog killings, stray animal killings in India as well as other countries over the last few months. And indeed, this story from the 23rd of January says that authorities in the southern Indian state of Telangana
00:17:00
Speaker
have launched an investigation after hundreds of stray dogs were killed across at least six villages in the past month, at least 354 killings so far.
00:17:13
Speaker
They have arrested nine people in connection with some of the cases. And I wasn't quite sure of this, Julie, because later on in the article, they do say that local authorities, so people sort of on the council or something or other,
00:17:29
Speaker
of these villages were behind the killings, though I couldn't quite work out whether they had been one of some of the nine people arrested. Did you have an insight into that? No, I don't have an insight into that. No. But there is a suggestion that even at that, that's an underestimate in terms of the number of killings. I did find that somewhere. Yeah. And um I mean, it's a similar story to one that we've read many times before in that it does share the fact that many local residents, like the the homeless stray animals, are part of the culture. They're they're part of life And yes, there is there is some quote nuisance value, but actually many people enjoy having those animals around. And I mean, the facts speak for themselves, the fact that, um you know, ah authorities are saying we need to look into this, this is not okay. Was that the general tone that you picked up that that generally people are saying this isn't okay or or not?
00:18:30
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I picked up a few things from this article. Actually, i found it quite interesting. I liked, in a way, the fact that somebody suggested that ah the killings, I mean, the killings are awful, don't get me wrong, but one of the reasons quoted was that it might be linked to local election promises, you know, too to be rid of the dogs, presumably by much gentler and more progressive means than actually killing them. And I just thought, my goodness, yeah. a government that worries about election promises what's that yeah we've got one and they don't mind breaking those and it's not just dogs as well and it's cattle and monkeys but in this case obviously the nine people have been arrested for killing dogs so I suppose the first thing to say about this is
00:19:22
Speaker
Isn't it just kind of symptomatic of our screwy little society that, you know, I think it's right. It's absolutely right that nine people are arrested for killing all those dogs. But...
00:19:38
Speaker
look at you know just down the road there'll be cattle and sheep and chickens getting killed in their thousands so on a daily basis and nobody's getting arrested for that it's because they're dogs you know what mean it's like yeah it is total kind of strange ethics there isn't it And the other thing, this idea about stray dogs, you know, we've got all kinds of ways that humans, in their very egocentric way, classify animals in relation to them constantly. So we get wildlife, you know, or we like them. We want to preserve wildlife. if Well, most of it, most of it, some of it, the squirrel might be the wrong colour, so that's different. But mostly wildlife, good wildlife.
00:20:27
Speaker
vermin oh no kill feral we kind of quite like those as well and stray you know some of these dogs probably haven't strayed from somebody's house or been abandoned they've probably never lived in a house or lived with people or anything they're probably wild but anyway stray dogs and they kind of they're kind of along with vermin they're a problem that needs to be solved a stray animal needs interference from a human you know and kind of intervention whereas normally wildlife might need bit of management here and there but but strays are a problem aren't they So they they feel the need to be involved because these are dogs and dogs are, you know, given special status in the world, it seems. and I also find it quite interesting that the son of one of the village heads said that it was only rabid dogs that were killed.
00:21:27
Speaker
So, you know, that that was the reason why they were killed, because they were so unwell and they were causing a problem that way. Well, do you know what? See, if that is the case, then these animals, if they had rabies or whatever, they were going to die anyway. you didn't need to kill them. And that would that would wipe out that population of so-called stray dogs if you just let them be unwell and that would be the end of it. But what they've done now by killing off the ones that, you know, were weakened and showing signs and all the rest of it, they've probably made that population stronger.
00:22:01
Speaker
And healthier, they've taken out the ill ones that can't make the other ones ill now, so then it'll thrive and though they'll actually you know make that population of stray dogs bigger probably as a result.
00:22:13
Speaker
It does show all sorts of follies when when humans interfere in this way. And it's it's obviously, you know, really tragic. And as you say, Julie, probably underreported in terms of the numbers there. But i I'll say what i often do in these things, it's it's good that it's getting ah an international spotlight on it. I think we can't underestimate the the impact of these things being reported and, you know, the the eyes of the world looking at these things. And hopefully that will make people...
00:22:42
Speaker
think differently because actually i think a lot of these things we've seen before have been people being worried about what will what will international visitors think if they come to our city and there's loads of stray dogs so actually if there's a very loud message that well we're all talking about it now because you've been killing them that that could in the long term change things we can only hope i would love to go somewhere where there was lots of dogs running about yeah yeah people pay for that sort of experience, don't they?
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah. Now, Shane has got two news stories this week with firsts in Europe. The first one is not a particularly positive first. This comes to us from the animal reader.
Bird Flu in Dutch Cow: Should We Worry About Zoonotic Spread?
00:23:24
Speaker
Bird flu found in a cow for the first time in the Netherlands. This animal was on a dairy farm in Friesland, which is a province in the Netherlands. The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the news earlier this week. Authorities had been looking into this farm in late December.
00:23:43
Speaker
Two cats got sick, one of whom tested positive for bird flu, unfortunately died a few days later. In mid-January, some of the dairy cows were tested. None of them and were sick, but one of them had antibodies to the bird flu virus, showing that it had been infected before, even even though the virus was no longer in their body. And now we've had this case of of a a cow that is alive having diabetes.
00:24:10
Speaker
bird flu positive test the cow became ill but recovered the symptoms were difficulty breathing and swelling in their udder there have been cases like this in the us but as i said at the top this is the first instance of this in europe Shane, it's it's an interesting one, this, from an an animal rights perspective, because there is ah a little bit of downplaying, I would say, at the end of the article in terms of like, oh, you know, still not spread to humans. That's, you know, that's okay. It shows what a threat it is.
00:24:46
Speaker
what What was your take reading through this? What were your takeaways? Well, my takeaway was that it was really only a matter of time because, as you said, this has been happening in the United States and it has spread to humans in the United States. And we don't know the extent of it because even though it's been happening, testing is not required.
00:25:08
Speaker
And so, of course, you're going to have a lot of people who don't want to test because they don't want to know if their animals are infected because they might have to do something. So we really have no idea how widespread it is. And then there are farm workers who have gotten bird flu, but we don't, again, know how widespread that is because a lot of these people are immigrants and you see what's happening with immigrants in the United States right now. So they are probably not going to want to come forward and and be in the spotlight for this.
00:25:40
Speaker
And even in this case, I think it was interesting that the reason they started looking into it was because the cats got sick. So really they had no idea that this these cows were infected because they found the antibodies. So obviously the cows had been ill. So this could be very much more widespread than we even know.
00:25:59
Speaker
And then at the end of the article, it did talk about how you know there are concerns that the virus could spread to other species, including mammals and humans. I mean, I think that that's already happened and um it will probably continue to happen and it, you know, it might get worse. So I feel like um this is kind of like a three alarm fire and everybody's just kind of burying their head in the sand instead of going for the, I don't know, I'm trying to extend this metaphor, ah going for the water hose. Yes.
00:26:29
Speaker
There you go. Yes, indeed. Or just, just fleeing from the the building and just saying we need, We need to let this animal agriculture building just die a death. Yeah, burn it down.
00:26:41
Speaker
yeah yeah, yeah. Keep the fire going. Goodness, the the analogy to the U-turn there. Save the cows, though. Take that, get them out. of course. Goodness, save the cows. Yes. No, thank you for that one, Shane. It some can feel a bit hopeless reporting reporting on bird flu and other zoonotic diseases, but I Like you say, we can't put a head in the sand with it, can we? We do need to report on these things.
00:27:03
Speaker
So earlier in the show, we reported on a positive development in the US that's going to happen in 2035. Nine years lead time, those animal testing on mammals have been given. Maybe that's how long it takes, you might be thinking. Well, according to New Food magazine, we'll move swiftly past the title of the magazine there, the headline, Norway to phase out frankenchickens by 2027 in landmark animal welfare move.
Norway's Plan to Phase Out Fast-Growing Chicken Breeds
00:27:33
Speaker
Goodness me, that's less than 12 months. You might be thinking, well, maybe Norway doesn't have many of these fast-growing chickens. No, no, no, no. 70 million chickens
00:27:45
Speaker
are killed for meat each year in this sector. 60% of chickens in Norway are these fast-growing breeds. So they're turning on a sixpence here, to use an old phrase, and they've been given less than a year or around about a year, depending on when in 2027 it needs to happen,
00:28:05
Speaker
to completely change their sector. So it does seem that positive changes to animals can happen quickly. Big industries can be made to change, perhaps just if they're in Scandinavia.
00:28:19
Speaker
I suppose, Julie, the question is... Is this a positive move for animals in the long run? i think it's it's fairly black and white that actually these frankenchickens live with horrible... I mean, this this is a ah coined term. That's not actually their scientific name. They're called that for any listeners who aren't.
00:28:42
Speaker
aware because they grow so quickly and they get so unwell because of this they can barely support their own weight. I think they're killed within like 30 or 40 days Yeah, they only get to live for 33 days or something like that. And at that point, they haven't just become fully grown in such a short space of time. They have become absolutely enormous to the extent that their legs are unable to support their body weight often. So they're kind of just resting on the ground on their chest and their legs are quite sort of deformed and splayed.
00:29:18
Speaker
and they're suffering all kinds of skin conditions as well because so much of their big bloated body is in contact with the ground which is all soiled and things like that so they're in an absolute state these franken chickens are absolutely suffering from you know the time that they start to grow really so yeah I think it's kind of not too surprising that they can phase this out as quickly as 2027 when you think about the short kind of life pregnancy cycle, if you like, and in terms of breeding these poor little animals. So if they just decide not to breed from the existing animals, um franken chickens then you know it's just a matter of finding the ones that are a more slowing slow growing breed in norway they call them turbo chickens i noticed so yeah i think it is a very positive move in norway like you say they've got 60 percent of their chickens are these franken chickens compared to us in the uk we've got 90 we've got a bigger number to turn around
00:30:32
Speaker
yeah It does perhaps change the focus of our advocacy, though, in that it's it's cited in this article in the UK. We've got Marks and Spencers and Waitrose who stereotypically will be ah catering to more of a the well-heeled population um as ah as a stereotype. And they're saying, oh, don't worry, none of our chickens come from those awful places. And they're giving themselves a pat on the back for the fact that they are only stocking chickens that are exploited in different ways so it we can't allow this to become a free pass for for industries that that routinely profit from this exploitation can we no absolutely not and it's not meant to send a message to people to say oh well do you know what it's absolutely fine to eat chicken now and kill chickens for your diet and things like that because they're they're a nice happy little breed that's got good health and plenty of space and all the rest of it because that is absolutely far from the truth definitely and what i think one of the potential beneficial side effects of a change were it to spread to more countries but hopefully you know starting with norway is that actually once people cannot produce chicken for people to eat from animals that are grown in that very rapid way to become so huge, once things have to be done you know on a more humane scale... then their profits aren't going to be the same at all and it might be enough to mean that they go out of business or that they're just persuaded to produce food in a different way perhaps. So it it might make it unviable for some of the real
00:32:28
Speaker
cheapo people just now who are you know really in the business of the worst types of animal exploitation they might decide not to go down the slower growing breeds route and just get out of the industry which would be a huge success yeah yeah and we can only hope can't we we can only hope shout out to anima international because they've been campaigning for this in norby for five years and And get kind of downhearted and hearing about, you know, brands like McDonald's and KFC and the shops that we have in the yeah UK, Iceland, and these people U-turning on pledges to do that with, you know, improving conditions for the animals that they exploit to such an extreme. You know, this bit of good news, although like you say, it's not the end of the road, but it's something. Yeah, it is is a positive move. Yes, it's is' well worth remembering, isn't it, that four years into that campaign, they might have been feeling like they weren't they weren't achieving anything or, you know, all all that effort hadn't got where they wanted to. But this is a ah huge step. So, yeah, credit to them and anyone else who's pushed forward for this. Thank you for that one, Julie. We're going take a quick break. When we get back, we've got our picks for the week. They're both really positive, I think. Anyway, we'll hear what Julie and Shane think. One's from Amsterdam in the Netherlands and the other is from their former colony, Indonesia.
00:34:03
Speaker
As well as producing these audio-based shows, our podcast hosts at Zencaster also provide the written transcript for each show. This is AI generated, so it might not always be 100% correct, but nonetheless, we hope that this will increase the accessibility of our show.
00:34:23
Speaker
So to access any of these written transcripts, head over to zencaster.com forward slash vegan week. I'm going to spell it all for you.
00:34:38
Speaker
then a forward slash, and then the word vegan, V-E-G-A-N, then a hyphen, and then week. Zencastr.com forward slash vegan hyphen week.
00:34:49
Speaker
And then each transcript is embedded with any of the shows that you click on.
00:34:56
Speaker
Okay, Shane, would you be happy to start off? We've we've taken your story from ProVeg International, though it's been covered in lots of places this week. It's been popping up in all sorts of feeds in my social media. Amsterdam to become the first capital city to ban meat
Amsterdam's Ban on Public Meat Advertising
00:35:14
Speaker
advertising. It's in public places, isn't it? So you could still have a discreet meat advert, I don't know, on the internet or something like that if you wanted. Well, most I think most advertising is in public. Otherwise, it doesn't work very well. So, yeah.
00:35:28
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is a step in the right direction. it was It's going to kick in May 1st. So we don't even have to wait till 2035. And it was approved by 27 of the 45 seats on the Amsterdam's Municipal Court.
00:35:42
Speaker
It was tabled by the party for the animals and the green um slash left party. So that I think that's great. and They have a history of this because in 2022, the Dutch town of Harlem became the first non-capital city in the world to restrict advertising of meat.
00:35:59
Speaker
So I don't know if there was a capital city before that restricted the advertising. But yeah, that's what it says about Harlem. The focus does seem to be on climate, but I don't think that really matters. And I will also say that the Netherlands seems to be very progressive because they already had a goal for 50% of their citizens' diets to be plant-based by 2050.
00:36:20
Speaker
So I think if they have that attitude, it's probably no surprise then that the majority of Dutch consumers are in favor of a shift to plant-based eating. And I hope that more countries move in this direction because the less advertising for meat, that is means that there's going to be less normalization of meat eating.
00:36:40
Speaker
And i think that's definitely what we want as vegans. Yeah, absolutely. I'm wondering, is there just like a smaller animal ag sector in the Netherlands or do their politicians just have more kahunas? ah but but Because really that's, you see it all the time, certainly in UK politics, I think it's probably the same, say, of US s politics, like just people fawning to to farmers because they're scared.
00:37:08
Speaker
They're scared of a big reaction. And, you know, the this is a really bold move. It's saying you're not allowed to advertise your product. it's We don't deem it acceptable for you to be promoting your product in public. They're not banning it, but they're sending a very strong message, aren't they? And like you say, with this goal of, um it was 60% plant-based protein is the the goal, isn't it? And 50%?
00:37:37
Speaker
50%, yeah. But right now they said, that the Netherlands is about 60% animal protein. I guess citizens are eating that. And right now they're recommending a balance of 40% animal and 60% plant-based trying to get to that 50%. So they're they're not quite there. But even to say that, like...
00:37:56
Speaker
that requires a society where it's okay for the government or a council to express an opinion like that express a stance because i mean last year we saw i think it was gloucestershire council they released a leaflet saying occasionally you might want to swap your dairy milk in your tea for plant-based milk occasionally. And that got a huge backlash. You know, you're not even allowed to say sometimes you might want to consider doing this tiny, small thing. Whereas here they're saying, no, you can't advertise it. And we want the whole population to change their diet within a generation. There are states here that are talking about ah putting people in jail if they sell cultivated meat. I mean, making it jailed, a jail offense. I mean, that's just the craziest thing ever. So that I don't, this might be a, this might be a stereotype, but I've always thought of um the Dutch as being pretty progressive, or at least the Netherlands as being pretty progressive. And I have not been there. um so i i don't know but from the people i've known and from what i've read they do seem very progressive and um i mean this would seem to prove that yeah i mean they're even progressive with their rates of bird flu within mammals you know first in europe they're you know they're leading the way in all sorts of different ways here but yeah i mean obviously any dutch listeners if you can give us an insight or anybody who who's got a a better knowledge than me shane and and julie on their
00:39:30
Speaker
Dutch culture and and that that there there must there must be animal ag there. Well, yeah, we just had the story about the dairy cows. So yeah, there is. there is Yeah, exactly. So it's it's just that the politicians ah of have got um a bit more of a backbone, perhaps. So well done them. And let's see more places doing this sort of thing. Thank you for that one, Shane.
00:39:54
Speaker
Julie, Your pick of the week is positive news as well. Indonesia. this This has been reported in a non-vegan source, which is always lovely. um The headline says... Oh, sorry, it's not the headline. It's how the article starts.
00:40:08
Speaker
If you're headed to Indonesia, keep in mind that elephant riding is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Many popular destinations have banned the activity to prioritise animal rights, urging travellers to seek out cruelty-free
Indonesia's Ban on Elephant Riding
00:40:21
Speaker
encounters instead. and in fact, it's more direct than that like that. It is banned now, isn't it? Yeah, as of the 25th of January.
00:40:28
Speaker
Whoop! No more elephant riding. Absolutely, absolutely. Cambodia banned elephant riding in 2020. Shout out to them. It still goes on, sadly, in Thailand, India and Vietnam. The ban has been made...
00:40:45
Speaker
directly on animal welfare stroke rights grounds which is a good thing it isn't one of these situations where it's not profitable so that's why it's changing or you know something like that because it is profitable It absolutely is.
00:41:03
Speaker
But it is banned because people are recognising the wrongs of it, which I think is the biggest win here alongside just the fact that elephants won't be made to suffer like they do. but just that recognition. The reason that it it kind of exists in the first place is that there are some cultures where owning an elephant for a man is a really important part of the culture and of their status and things. So that's going to be a very hard thing to challenge and change. but an elephant consumes about 100 to 200 litres of water a day and something like 150 to 300 kilograms of food a day so they are extremely expensive to keep and very expensive 33 000 for a baby elephant partly
00:41:59
Speaker
So in order to make that pay, then, you know, obviously they use them for this activity that people who are on holiday, who might otherwise describe themselves as animal lovers, you know, they willingly engage in an elephant ride. because you know they're in a beautiful place they're in holiday mode they're not in critical thinking mode they're all happy happy and they see these enormous creatures and they seem very gentle and docile and very willing you know they kneel down on the ground to let you get on them apparently and all of that and that's the only bit of this that they see they do not see the conditions that these animals live in and the main thing they don't see and this was my cry of the week
00:42:46
Speaker
Because elephants are massive, you're talking four to six tons of animal and sort of between nine and 13 feet high.
00:42:57
Speaker
Anything that strong and big and powerful is not going to be dominated by a puny little human easily at all. So in order to make sure that they are...
00:43:10
Speaker
sort of extremely obedient and all and just beaten down they do something called the crush so they they capture a baby elephant they take it away from its mum as soon as possible as young as possible and they put it in a cage that's that's the size of it basically it's just the size of its body so it cannot move at all And it's kept there with very, very limited food and water so that it's dehydrated and weak from hunger. And they just visit all kinds of violence on it till it's at the point of collapse. And then they start training it. And the video I saw, there was somebody just taking something like a really sharp metal hammer and just spiking it into the top of this wee baby elephant's brow. It just, I was crying so much. So that is how they break their spirit. And that is what has to happen before these animals who actually naturally are quite averse to people.
00:44:14
Speaker
They don't want to interact with people and they don't want to kneel down and let, you know, none of that. That is all, that isn't an animal interacting willingly with a human being. that's an animal performing because it's frightened for its life and because it's been absolutely beaten into that and it's such a kind of on the face of it when your pals are on holiday and on facebook saying oh look you know we did this we did an elephant ride look at us It's really hard to get across to people what goes on behind the scenes, but it's so, so important because even the nicest animal lovers out there might see that activity as being quite benign. But it's so important that we know the story behind that and that we can speak up for elephants. And even that that video is online. It's quite easy to find, actually, but just to speak up for these big animals because much as they could kill us in a second,
00:45:13
Speaker
you know and And they do sometimes, you know, kill people, elephants. They're extremely strong. You know, they can but just even hitting us with their trunk, their trunk's 400 pounds in weight. You know, they could beat us up and trample us easy, but they're just too broken to do it a lot of the time. So... Yeah, really important that we speak up for the elephants that are still in that industry and all praise to the people of Indonesia who have made a stand against this horrible, horrible activity. Yeah, absolutely. Goodness, thank you for that background, Julie. that's that I've learned a lot from that and it it it makes a lot of sense as as well. And the fact, like you say, that this has been put through and is now law, it means that those cowardly or
00:46:05
Speaker
misguided but I've got an example of a cowardly person in in front of me here on um on this news article of a force to make a yeah U-turn. I'm referring to Nigel Mason. He sounds like a lovely humble person because he's the founder of Mason Elephant Park. He couldn't think of a better name other than to just name it after himself. He's previously been quoted in December saying it's not cruel. It doesn't hurt the elephant in any way when talking about elephant riding. Then the band came in on January the 25th. And now the park's Instagram says, guided by elephant health and welfare above all else, we're evolving to a more natural experience without elephant rides. No, no, no, no, no. Someone told you you're not allowed to do it anymore. That's all that's happened, Nigel. How dare
00:46:51
Speaker
how dare you How dare you? But it's happily part of, a because I think there's ah there's a holiday company quoted in that article as well, is it called Intrepid or something like that? They're talking about kind of much more positive ways for people to have a, you know, some kind of, and not interaction with with animals, but... you know, to see animals and to appreciate them in their, you know, in their natural state and that that is a, it's becoming a trend in wildlife tourism, which is great. And I am hoping as well that this questioning of the morality animals
00:47:34
Speaker
sitting on an elephant's back and having it you know carry you from place to place i wish it would cross over into the people who think it's fun to go on a camel ride or you know do do all these other things as well and and even one day oh my goodness wouldn't it be great if nobody rode horses anymore um But yeah, I mean, yeah, the penny's dropping, I hope, that actually we've got our own legs, most of us, that we can walk about on. We don't need to be sitting on animals and treating them like slaves.
00:48:09
Speaker
No, absolutely. Absolutely. Hopefully the start of many pennies dropping across the world. Thank you for that one, Julie. Now it's normally at this time in the show that we give you our email address and don't worry, we're going to do that too, just in case you've forgotten it or it's your first time listening. But we've got exciting news about our social media accounts.
00:48:30
Speaker
Shane, tell us more. We are back on social media and we want you to like us. We want you to follow us on Instagram and Facebook. We are at enough of the falafel, all one word on both of those.
00:48:45
Speaker
And if you follow us, you can keep up with all our new episodes. You can comment on the stories we cover. We'll be sharing links to these stories and you can let us know what you thought about them. Yeah, absolutely. And I will say as well, it's definitely the most direct way to send us a news story or just give your opinion on something. Very often we'll feature stuff in the show that someone's got in touch with us via these channels. We've not been posting on them very much over the last two years, but they do exist. And we're now very active on them now. Thanks to Shane. So yeah, do get in touch with us.
00:49:19
Speaker
But we've not ditched the email address. If you like to send a long old email, sometimes it's a bit easier to type an email than ah an Instagram direct message, isn't it? You can still do so. So here's Julie and Dominic with some funky music in the background telling you about why we like emails from you.
00:49:36
Speaker
To get in touch with us, just send us an email at enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com. We see ourselves as a collective, our listenership stretches all around the world and everyone's opinions, questions, feedback and ideas are what helps shape the show.
00:49:55
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today, enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com. Okay, we've got time for just one last story. I really, really wanted to share with you a story from the National Pig Association. Why?
00:50:12
Speaker
Because when I was doing my research, this popped up, members only animal rights campaign update, an update on the forthcoming national animal rights campaign targeting the pig sector. I thought, oh my goodness, they're rattled, they're worried. And they've got a defence plan. Goodness me, we need to report on this. But yeah, members only. The clue was in the headline. I have tried to sign up. It costs £21, which I thought, just for one story in the news. But I tried. But yeah, you you need to give a reference either from your university and your your tutor saying and that you're an agricultural student or something like that or give your employer or give a very very good reason as to why you are interested in the did you try as an associate member i looked at associate but again like it seemed like they put quite a lot in the way of it so i don't know so i'm going for that angle i'm going for that angle and i'm going for smallholder Yeah? Okay. Okay. Well, you know, you can rely on us listeners to ah try almost all the means possible. you you can see that Julie's a bit more cunning than me. But anyway, if we get any updates on this, or it becomes news that gets shared beyond the paywall, you'll hear it from us.
00:51:30
Speaker
But instead, we are going to focus on a story that, again, with the um similar to the Amsterdam ban on meat advertising. This one has been all over the vegan social media and everything this week. It is the news that McDonald's UK are discontinuing 80% of their vegetarian options. We don't normally report on McDonald's and Greg's and KFC's menu. However, this seemed like it was a little different So yeah, discontinuing 80% of their vegetarian options.
00:52:03
Speaker
These four products, veggie dippers, veggie dipper, happy meals, spicy veggie wraps, and the vegetable deluxe sandwich will no longer be available. The vegan McPlant burger will be the only remaining meat-free option. I have to say, I don't know. And I've not researched as to whether those four discontinued products were vegetarian as opposed to vegan. It does rather suggest so from their names. Um, Reportedly, it's due to poor sales of the menu items.
00:52:30
Speaker
McDonald's have hinted they're looking at other markets to determine which vegetarian and vegan products are the most popular. They may explore some new meat-free options in the future. I've got to say, my reaction to this is, well, what a surprise.
00:52:44
Speaker
Who saw that coming, eh? Like, it's is is there any other response to that? And is it says that there have been folks saying, oh, this is awful. Oh, vegetarians and vegans are being targeted and are being viewed by McDonald's as second-class citizens. Well, yeah.
00:53:01
Speaker
Like... did Did we expect a red carpet? Am I being really cynical here? Rightly so, though. Rightly so. The thing that's going on here, as far as my research, in answer to your question, Ant, these items are described as vegetarian, but actually they are vegan suitable as well. I didn't see it was a McDonald's customer, Julie. How would I?
00:53:26
Speaker
I've been doing my research. I'm not a McDonald's customer. But in when you look at their very long, complicated, chemical-laden ingredients list, there isn't any animal stuff in there.
00:53:42
Speaker
And they are sometimes called vegan and sometimes referred to as vegetarian. And then on one part of the website, they've been certified as vegan by the Vegetarian Society. So... Yeah, I think there's a tiny bit of confusion going on there. and They have brought in a new vegetarian...
00:54:02
Speaker
which is actually vegetarian and not vegan, they have brought in a new product as well. But the main thing that is going on with McDonald's is that since 2024, their sales have been dropping and it's the first time in their history that that's happened. So they're really troubled.
00:54:22
Speaker
So I think in response to being troubled, what they're doing is going back to basics they're going back to the formula that got them success in the first place which is big disgusting meaty burgers that you can eat with one hand and drive along at the same time so nothing that's a little nuggety thing that might even need to i don't know you might need a knife and fork i doubt it though people just maybe pile it in with their fingers i don't know but they're they're really going for the lowest common denominator they're going for what made them great in the first place so that's why they're sticking i think with the mcplant burger because you can eat that with one hand and drive along not that do that but you know i mean It's that kind of horrible, grabby, nasty fast food thing. and So they're just going down that route because they've got a lot of competition now that they didn't have before. So, yeah, they're just aiming as low as they possibly can. i feel like my ah reaction was...
00:55:29
Speaker
McDonald's in the UK has vegetarian options? Because there's none of this in the US. s So I was just like, oh, wow, I would have liked to try some of this. I mean, not that I go to McDonald's, or but it's just be like something really novel. We don't not even have that.
00:55:45
Speaker
i do accept the argument that I have heard that for, I don't know, say ah ah a teenager that is going out with their friends who are not vegan, and they can't persuade them to go to a vegan place.
00:56:00
Speaker
If there's a vegan option at McDonald's and that's where they all choose to go, then there's something for that vegan teenager or whatever. I do understand that, but I think there's a difference between that situation, which I'm going to say is relatively niche.
00:56:18
Speaker
Please send us a email or ah or a Facebook or Instagram DM to contradict me. But there's a difference between that being, a okay, that's quite useful versus, oh my goodness, stop the press. but McDonald's have got a vegan option. Oh my goodness, the world's changing, blah, blah, blah. I just think, come on, come on. These people aren't going to, they're not going to make the world go vegan for us. they're They're not our champions, our heroes. They're not the people we should be talking about, which is why 240 odd episodes in, this is possibly the first episode where we've ever been talking about them. It's a nonsense. I think the times when I have like,
00:57:01
Speaker
wish that there was something like this is like if i'm if I'm traveling somewhere, like if I'm driving somewhere and I have to stay overnight and it's like in some small little town like Bernie, Texas, and they don't have anything, you know, and it's like nine o'clock at night. And what was that place called Burger King has a vegetarian vegan that can be made vegan burger. So like so there has been like a handful of times that I've been like, this is all that I can get really, you know, to eat and I haven't eaten all day. So it's nice that that there's that option. But I don't think that I mean, yeah, I don't look to McDonald's says it to, you know, to help the vegans. That's not what they're there for. The other thing to point out as well is that there's a supposedly big, I don't know how big it is, but there is a boycott of McDonald's. There's probably, on any given day of the year, there's probably a reason to boycott McDonald's. Pick a reason, you know, terrible treatment of employees, chopping down rainforests, you name it, and links to political situations that are extremely unsavoury, whatever. But there is...
00:58:07
Speaker
a fairly high level boycott of McDonald's going on at the moment and it may well be that in the Venn diagram of life that the the crossover and the reason that the sales of these things have gone down is because the people who are interested enough to participate in a boycott were the spicy veggie wrap consumers you never know it might have been that kind of overlap yeah um it's a revenge removal of items on the menu they're being well they weren't buying them because they were boycotting the place so of course sales going down um i also saw another video it was of a man saying oh i know the real reason that you know mcdonald's is going down the tubes And, you know, their costs have gone up, so their prices have gone up, so they've got really expensive.
00:58:58
Speaker
And in where this man was broadcasting from in America, and his theory was that actually people were choosing to stay at home and actually cook some food in their house, which is revolutionary. So there you go. and Home cooking is becoming more fashionable and that's what's putting these people out of business. I know, I mean, I had to be kind of on the hop all day today and i couldn't do
00:59:29
Speaker
kind of have a meal in my house until i got home this evening and i i just took food with me it's just's not that hard you just do you what mean yeah even for somebody like me who who eats industrial amounts of food that i just yeah you manage That's why they call you industrial Julie.
00:59:50
Speaker
yeah Nice one. Well, thank you both for commenting on that story and indeed the previous eight stories that we've had this week. So if you're still with us, there's a chance that you enjoy what we're doing and you value what we're doing. Following listener feedback, we've set up what's called a Ko-Fi page. Listeners, you might be thinking, oh God, listen at him trying to him trying to sound down with the kids, something called a Ko-Fi page. We know what a Ko-Fi page is, but some of you might not. It's basically a site where if you want to, you can send us either a one-time or a recurring, small or very large, if you want, donation to support our work. And at the moment, we've set up a goal, which is for new microphone slash z in that if we get enough to get one new microphone, then maybe we'll get another one. In that, each of the folk, Julie, Shane, myself and others on the show, we provide our own equipment and therefore some people's is fancy and shiny and some people's is is good enough, but it it might affect.
01:01:05
Speaker
how well you're able to listen to it. And so we thought, seeing as we'd heard from a more than one listener saying that they would like to send us something financial to support the show, that we would set this up. So there's a link in the show notes. I'll tell you it now too. It's Ko-Fi, which is K-O and then a hyphen F-I dot com and then a forward slash and then enough of the falafel or one word. And you can see all the different options that you've got.
01:01:34
Speaker
We have already got somebody signed up. They are a Brunion with the horns. We've given you we've given different tiers. So if you contribute a certain amount per month, you are a Brunion with the horns, which I think is a very important label to have. And all I'm going to say is, if there's enough folk on there contributing regularly,
01:01:55
Speaker
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01:02:29
Speaker
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01:02:54
Speaker
That will also help the show pop up when people search for vegan or animal rights content online. Thanks for your help. Thank you everybody for listening.
01:03:07
Speaker
The next Enough of the Falafel episode coming out will be a vegan talk episode and it's available from Thursday the 5th of February and that will feature Dominic, Shane and Anthony and it'll be a listener mailbag special. show Anyway, that's enough the falafel for this episode. Thanks to Anthony and Julie for your contributions. And thanks again to everyone for listening. I'm Shane and you've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
01:03:44
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster. We use music and special effects by zapsflat.com.
01:03:59
Speaker
And sometimes if you're lucky at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr. Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
01:04:25
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? twenty three That is right, Dominic. There's over 100 episodes on there featuring our brilliant range of different guests, people's stories of going vegan, philosophical debates, moral quandaries, and of course...
01:04:46
Speaker
around a dozen news items from around the world each week so check back on your podcast player to hear previous episodes and remember to get an alert for each new episode simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from