More than 40 Pizza Huts in the Fort Wayne, Indiana, area are dishing up something new and exciting these days: soy “cheese” pizzas. The Fort Wayne-based franchise, with 45 stores in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, is the first in the country to start serving soy cheese, which is 50 percent lower in fat than dairy cheese—and a whole lot kinder to cows (and to their calves, who are put into veal crates by the dairy industry)!

In fact, any way you slice it, Pizza Hut’s new soy cheese is a huge improvement over pizzas made from dairy cheese—for your health, for the environment, and for the animals.

For Your Health …
Dairy foods are loaded with fat and cholesterol and have been linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and even osteoporosis—the very disease that they are touted as being able to prevent. A Harvard University study found that women who consumed the most calcium from dairy foods actually broke more bones than those who rarely drank milk!

In contrast, soy milk, soy cheese, tofu, and other soy foods can reduce harmful cholesterol levels and help ward off cancer and heart disease. Soy foods are also rich in protein, B vitamins, iron, and zinc, and tofu made with calcium sulfate or calcium chloride has more of this bone-building nutrient than cow’s milk.

For the Environment …
Every year in the United States, factory farms produce enough animal waste to fill 6.7 million train boxcars—which could encircle the Earth 12.5 times! Animal waste from farms—loaded with nitrates, antibiotics, parasites, heavy metals, and pesticides—is poisoning our waterways.

In the Central Valley of California, cows on dairy farms produce as much excrement as a city of 21 million people. Even a smallish farm of 200 cows will produce as much nitrogen as is contained in the sewage from a community of 5,000 to 10,000 people, according to a U.S. Senate report on animal waste. And there is no sewage system for the cows’ waste!

For the Animals!
Cows make milk in order to feed their babies—not to feed humans. To keep the milk coming, farmers keep cows pregnant by artificially inseminating them, definitely not a pleasant experience for the cow. Female calves born on dairy farms are either added to the herd or slaughtered. Male calves are taken away from their mothers just days after birth—causing acute distress to both mother and calf—and chained inside cramped, dark crates to eventually be killed for veal. Many of these babies wobble, rather than walk, to their deaths because their legs are so sore and swollen from balancing on slippery, waste-covered floors.

You Can Help!
If you live in Indiana, Michigan, or Ohio and are not a strict vegan*, please show your support for animal-friendly foods by trying Pizza Hut’s new soy cheese pizza. And no matter where you live, please take a few minutes to write to Pizza Hut and ask for soy cheese at all its stores. Write:

Mike Rawlings, President
Pizza Hut
14841 Dallas Pkwy.
Dallas, TX 75254

*Galaxy Foods officials advise us that there is casein in Pizza Hut’s soy cheese and that they are trying to develop a completely vegan version that melts as well. Please, if you are a vegan who lives in these cities, encourage your nonvegan friends and relatives to eat the soy cheese pizza, which contain a tiny bit of a dairy ingredient but are still a huge improvement over the pizzas made with 100 percent dairy cheese, and please write to Pizza Hut to ask for it in all stores nationwide. And remember, a cheese-free pizza at Pizza Hut also remains a tasty vegan option nationwide.