As chicken meat sales plummet in India, PETA suggests KFC to add vegan chicken

With chicken sales in India falling to as much as 50% because of rising worries among the people over zoonotic disease, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has written a letter to popular chicken-meat chain KFC suggesting it to add a vegan chicken option to its menu. It is to be noted that several KFC restaurants outside India have already included the vegan chicken option in their menu.

In India, GoodDot and some other firms are offering meat-free chicken and other vegan meats. “Much of the world – many Indians included – is turning away from meat over animal welfare, environmental, or health concerns. PETA India is calling on KFC to strike while the iron is hot and cash in on the demand for delicious vegan meals,” said PETA India Vegan Outreach Coordinator Dr Kiran Ahuja.

According to a 2018 report from GlobalData, around 70% of people across the globe had already reduced their meat consumption or deciding to quit the cunsumption of meat before the COVID-19 outbreak. GlobalData is a data and analytics company that works with 4,000 of the largest companies across the world.

Several zoonotic diseases including swine flu, Ebola and HIV are believed to have mutated enough to jump the species barrier to humans at animal markets, slaughterhouses, or in other ways linked to meat. 

It is widely believed that coronavirus COVID-19 too originated at meat markets in China. On the other hand, H5N1, which claims the lives of  about 60% of humans who catch it, were linked to poultry from farms and live-animal markets.

The motto of PETA India, in part reads that “animals are not ours to eat”.