Vienna, 22 July 2024 – Delivery services score poorly when it comes to animal welfare. This is the main takeaway of a recent ranking conducted by global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS. The ranking looked into: meat and dairy reduction, climate goals, animal welfare and vegan food increase in the industry in selected European countries, the United States and South Africa. FOUR PAWS investigated 18 subsidiaries of five major global food delivery services Deliveroo, Delivery Hero, Doordash/Wolt, Just Eat Takeaway.com and UberEats. While positive tendencies could be observed, such as in promoting vegan meals, albeit temporarily, none of the food delivery services had concrete strategies for reducing animal-based products. Just Eat Switzerland and Just Eat United Kingdom were leading the ranking with a third of the maximum score, while Postmates United States and Uber Eats Netherlands were at the bottom, fulfilling only one percent of the criteria. Given that this sector is growing, FOUR PAWS urges all delivery service companies to step up their efforts and implement concrete meat and dairy reduction strategies as part of their animal welfare and climate action goals.

Every year, about 92.2 billion farmed land animals are used for food (meat, milk and eggs) globally. Animal agriculture is responsible for about one sixth of world’s greenhouse gas emissions, fuelling the climate crisis. The majority of farmed land animals are held in factory farming systems, suffering gravely from the cruel and cramped conditions.

Animal welfare as a blind spot

“The ranking revealed that animal welfare is still a blind spot for delivering companies. None of the delivery services had an animal welfare policy in place or concrete strategies to reduce meat and dairy,” says Svensek. Out of 18 delivery services only three – Just Eat Switzerland, Thuisbezorgd Netherlands and Deliveroo United Kingdom – raised the topic of animal welfare at all. Several delivery services acknowledged the issue of the negative effects of animal-derived food (meat, dairy and eggs). However, only Just Eat United Kingdom and Just Eat Switzerland took concrete measures to support restaurants in the reduction of meat and dairy. They used a tool to provide information about the carbon footprint of meals and their impact on the environment. Restaurants could reduce the carbon footprint of their meals by, for example, switching to plant-based ingredients. Just Eat United Kingdom also provided its restaurants with a sustainability guide, which also addressed the issue of animal-derived food causing more emissions than plant-based alternatives.

Special service for vegan customers 
The ranking also showed that the food delivery service sector is taking initiative to increase the share of vegan meals. All assessed companies offered special search buttons or filters for vegan dishes. Yet many promotions were only temporary and linked to special events, such as Veganuary, or Earth Day. Uber Eats Germany offered a 20% discount for vegan dishes on Earth Day and Lieferando Germany and Austria awarded the best vegetarian/vegan restaurant. Deliveroo United Kingdom launched a limited-edition special vegan dish during Veganuary.

Methodology and Scoring

Between January and April 2024, FOUR PAWS evaluated 18 food delivery companies in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and South Africa for their strategies for meat and dairy reduction towards animal welfare and climate mitigation. The following subsidiaries of five major global food delivery services were assessed: Deliveroo UK, Foodora AT, DoorDash US, Wolt DE, Wolt AT, Just Eat UK, Just Eat CH, Lieferando DE, Lieferando AT, Thuisbezorgd NL, Grubhub US, Uber Eats CH, Uber Eats DE, Uber Eats NL, Uber Eats UK, Uber Eats US, Uber Eats ZA, Postmates US. The assessment was based on the FOUR PAWS research of publicly available online information such as CSR and ESG policies, annual reports, ordering platforms and digital communication between January 2022 and April 2024. The food delivery companies were also contacted individually with a questionnaire, but this opportunity was not used by any of them. Up to 100 points/percent could be scored in total, divided into three categories (“Meat and Dairy Reduction and Climate goals”, “Animal Welfare”, “Vegan Food Increase”). This ranking is part of the FOUR PAWS’ “Atlas Challenge”, which is a food industry ranking series conducted among different sectors.