MFA volunteer extraordinaire Jenni Rempel gives us the skinny on the summer music scene.

Summer is a great time for music festivals and tours from coast to coast. Many well-known musicians are also advocates for farmed animals. Check out these vegan musicians coming soon to a city near you!

The 2013 Honda Civic Tour will be headlined by Maroon 5 and their vegan guitarist, Mickey Madden. The Vans Warped Tour '13 will have multiple vegans on the road.

Activist John William Feldmann of Goldfinger will travel alongside Christofer Drew Ingle of Never Shout Never and Adam Russell of Story of the Year.

Fall Out Boy is touring as well. Drummer Andy Hurley has been vegan for years. Hurley used to perform with Earth Crisis, which will also be touring. Earth Crisis, featuring vegan singer Karl Buechner, promotes a vegan lifestyle and advocates for animal rights.

For the edgier crowd, Travis Barker (of Blink-182 fame) will be drumming cross-country for the Transplants, and vegan Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler will also be on the road.

Don't think veg musicians are a boys club because The Iron Maidens (an all-female Iron Maiden cover band) is jamming this summer, featuring vegan singer Kirsten Rosenberg.

Rock fans can check out Brian Bell, guitarist for Weezer, making his way along the West Coast in July. Moby will be playing nearby at the Wanderlust Festival where he will perform acoustic and DJ sets.

Like country? Singer Garth Brooks will play three shows at the Encore Theatre in Las Vegas. The venue is part of the Wynn Resort, which features a full vegan menu! Garth Brooks isn't the only western veg musician out there, of course; Carrie Underwood will be playing as well.

Want to listen to great music and raise awareness at the same time? Consider leafleting outside a concert venue and spread the word that your favorite musicians support compassion for animals. Order literature today!

The USDA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the department's watchdog, released a disturbing report condemning the department's oversight of pork slaughterhouses. In addition, the OIG came out strongly against a pilot program that allows pork farmers to speed up the kill line, slaughtering even more pigs per hour, and to operate with fewer inspectors on hand. This program is similar to those recently implemented for turkey- and chicken-processing facilities.

The OIG cited "egregious" and repeated health and animal welfare violations that seemed no cause for concern for hog farmers, who took no action to rectify them. The violations included fecal contamination of carcasses that had already been "cleaned" and pests on the kill floor.

The USDA hog inspection service issued 44,128 noncompliance citations to 616 plants between 2008 and 2011, but suspended only 28 percent of them. Many of the citations were for the same offenses, pointing to a culture of disregard for human health and animal welfare.

Simply put, pig farming is a dirty, inhumane business. It's also increasingly dangerous, as mysterious, explosive fecal foam has emerged from manure pits on roughly 25 percent of US pigs farms.

The best way to take a stand against pig farming and other factory farm horrors is to choose plant-based alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy. For tips, tricks, and recipes, visit ChooseVeg.com or order our brand-new Vegetarian Starter Guide.

Adding itself to the impressive list of institutions and organizations to take a stand for healthy vegetarian eating, Tuesday San Diego Unified became the latest school district to adopt Meatless Mondays.

Following the lead of LA Unified, Baltimore City Public Schools, and other school districts, the San Diego school board voted 4-1 in favor of serving only meatless meals to its K-8 students every Monday. "The goal is to reduce the world's carbon footprint, cut the risk of some disease and scale back the obesity epidemic among American youth," according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Mercy For Animals is proud to have endorsed Meatless Mondays in a letter to the board, as well as to have publicized Tuesday's hearing and mobilized local residents to attend. A large crowd turned out for the meeting in support of the initiative without any opposition.

The popularity of Meatless Mondays has been growing nationally and internationally, as trendsetting cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vancouver, have made formal recommendations to their residents to go meatless on Mondays, and public figures from Oprah Winfrey and Jessica Simpson to Richard Branson and Al Gore have all adopted a vegetarian diet for at least one day of the week.

To learn more about the benefits of vegetarian eating on Mondays or any day, visit ChooseVeg.com or order your free Vegetarian Starter Guide.

A recent study by the Loma Linda University School of Public Health reveals that a vegetarian diet could lead to a longer and healthier life, especially for men.

The study of more than 70,000 Seventh-Day Adventists over six years found that on average, vegetarians had a 12 percent lower chance of dying from any cause than that of their meat-eating counterparts. Vegetarians also had a lower risk of developing several chronic illnesses, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.

"Various types of vegetarian diets may be beneficial in reducing the risk of death compared to non-vegetarian diets," states Dr. Michael Orlich, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University and lead author of the study.

For tips on transitioning to a healthy and humane vegan lifestyle, visit ChooseVeg.com. Click here to order your free Vegetarian Starter Kit.

The emerging world of 3-D printing may help pave the way to ending animal suffering on factory farms. By combining 3-D printing and tissue engineering, scientists are hoping to create meat without raising and slaughtering animals.

Gabor and Andras Forgacs, father-and-son founders of Modern Meadow, a company that specializes in 3-D printing technology, are hoping to do just that. Originally focused on creating leather, the duo has now obtained grants from the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture to help them invent a way to "print" meat. "The grants were approved and rewarded with the speed of light," declared Gabor.

As revolutionary as "printing" meat sounds, in vitro meat is another innovative option on the horizon for creating animal products without the negative environmental impact or animal cruelty.

While the future may look better for farmed animals, no one has to wait to help reduce the abuse and suffering rampant on today's factory farms. Transitioning to a delicious and compassionate, vegan diet is easy and fun.

Additionally, there is a plethora of plant-based products, from Gardein and Beyond Meat to Field Roast and Tofurky, that taste and feel just like the animal-based products many of us grew up with. For tips, tricks, and recipes, check out ChooseVeg.com.

MFA volunteer Jenni Rempel dishes on delicious and decadent vegan ice cream!

As the weather gets warmer around the country, many people will turn to cold treats to keep the temperature low. Sadly, the production of dairy, which is found in many frozen sweets, entails confinement, painful mutilations, and cruel handling for dairy cows. This injustice is completely unnecessary, especially with the wide variety of non-dairy products available today! Popsicles, vegan gelato, and sorbet can be great alternatives to dairy ice cream, but if you really want a milky treat, check out the many non-dairy ice cream alternatives. Vegan ice creams can be made from soy, almond, coconut, cashew, and even rice milks.

Many US cities feature dedicated vegan ice cream shops, such as Kind Kreme in Los Angeles (check out its waffle sundae and "ice kreme sandwich"), Lula's Sweet Apothecary in New York City (known for its vegan soft-serve), FoMu Alternative Ice Cream + Cafe in Boston, and Sweet Ritual in Austin. If you aren't lucky enough to live near one of these shops, check your local supermarket for great dairy-free ice cream products. Here are some of our favorites:

• DF Mavens: With a host of soy- and coconut-based flavors, DF Mavens is a delicious summer snack. All of the flavors are great, but we love the "Shot of Java" and "Key Lime Creme" varieties best. In addition, part of the proceeds of DF Mavens sales goes to support our work here at Mercy For Animals!

• SO Delicious: A wide selection of flavors and varieties sets SO Delicious apart. The coconut-based Mint Chip and soy-based Mocha Fudge stand out, but there is a complete line of almond milk frozen desserts as well. SO Delicious also makes the "Purely Decadent" line of specialty, soy-based pints.

• Tofutti: Home to a great, soy-based, classic Vanilla flavor, Tofutti also makes a number of novelty products like cones, bars, and "Cuties" sandwiches.

• Coconut Bliss: This line of organic, fair trade-certified, coconut-based pints offers some creative flavors like Ginger Cookie Caramel and Mocha Maca Crunch.

For crafty folks there are some great do-it-yourself ice creams that can be easily prepared.
One-ingredient banana ice cream is one of the cheapest and easiest homemade solutions. In addition to recipes found online, The Vegan Scoop book has 150 recipes for decadent, dairy-free desserts.

You can be a change agent for animals! Spread the word to your friends by sharing the truth about the dairy industry and find more information on a cruelty-free lifestyle by visiting ChooseVeg.com.

MFA volunteer Jenni Rempel gives us the scoop on rising beef prices.

Several prominent news sources have recently reported on the skyrocketing prices of beef in the United States.

According to the Wall Street Journal, wholesale costs for beef recently broke records, ringing in at the most expensive prices in a decade. NBC News online corroborates this beef price spike in a similar story published earlier this month. These higher prices are attributed to years of drought in cattle-producing states, which have forced farmers to reduce the national cattle herd to its smallest numbers in six decades.

Perhaps the rising cost of beef is just one of the reasons that meat consumption has been on a downtrend in recent years. Add to that the health and animal welfare concerns associated with eating meat and the switch to a vegetarian diet becomes a no-brainer.

Eating vegetarian is not only easy and delicious, but can also save you money. From buying in bulk to shopping at farmers' markets, it's a snap to prepare healthy and satisfying meals that'll keep you well within your budget.

Visit ChooseVeg.com for inexpensive recipe ideas and for tips on saving cash at the supermarket. Also be sure to order your Vegetarian Starter Kit here.

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV), an illness that causes diarrhea in pigs and can be fatal, has been documented for years in Europe and Asia. Now the virus has spontaneously shown up for the first time on American pig farms.

Hitting five pork-producing states, including Iowa, the number one pork producer in the country, PEDV has sickened thousands of pigs and led to devastating losses--the virus can lead to death in young pigs. Farmers have been left bewildered. "We're just trying to get a handle on what's happening," said Tom Burkgren, executive director of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. "It's like drinking water out of a fire hose. We're getting hits from all over the place."

With the outbreak of H1N1 (swine flu) not too long ago, a virus that killed hundreds of thousands of people, and now PEDV, perhaps it's time that pig farmers started considering the deplorable conditions they force pigs to endure on factory farms, and how it could be negatively affecting the animals' and their own health. Pigs are routinely crammed into gestation crates--cages so small the animals can't even turn around or lie down comfortably. They develop sores and become stressed, which weakens their immune systems. Additionally, they're fed harmful drugs like ractopamine, as well as low doses of antibiotics, which create a breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

You can take a stand against this awfulness every time you sit down to eat. Choosing healthy and compassionate, vegan meals is an excellent way to send a message to farmers that animal abuse has no place in the twenty-first century. For everything you need to get you started, visit ChooseVeg.com.

In about a month, all the movers and shakers of the animal rights movement will descend on Washington, DC, for one of the most anticipated events of the year: the 2013 Animal Rights National Conference. With over 90 speakers from dozens of organizations, and a plethora of exhibitors, this year's AR Conference promises to be the most exciting yet.

The program begins on the evening of June 27th with a dinner and networking reception. The following three days will be filled with plenaries, talks, and workshops. From social media tactics to how to be an effective letter writer to vegan nutrition, no subject will be untouched.

Mercy For Animals is thrilled to have our executive director, Nathan Runkle, speaking at the conference, as well as Matt Rice, our director of investigations, and Vandhana Bala, MFA's legal counsel.

For more information, including a complete list of speakers and the entire Animal Rights National Conference program, click here. If you can make the conference, don't hesitate--buy your tickets today!

With Memorial Day just behind us, barbeque season is in full swing. But fans of steak on the grill may end up with more than they bargained for. According to Consumer Reports, machines that tenderize beef can introduce dangerous bacteria, such as E. coli, from the surface of meat to the center where they can be harder to kill.

In fact, over the last ten years, the Centers for Disease Control has documented ten deaths and 174 illnesses caused by mechanically tenderized beef contaminated with E. coli. Consumer Reports is warning beef buyers to beware. With the exception of retail giant Costco, which experienced an outbreak of E. coli linked to its tenderized products in Canada, retailers do not typically label their beef products as tenderized. And tenderization is virtually undetectable by sight.

The federal government is now considering mandatory labeling of tenderized beef by retailers. But the American Meat Institute, a trade association, has historically opposed such mandates.

Tenderized or not, beef is not only contaminated with bacteria, but is also tainted with the abuse and suffering of the animals who were slaughtered for its sale. To protect yourself from falling ill, and animals from being sent to the kill floor, strongly consider adopting a delicious, vegan diet. Learn more at ChooseVeg.com.