Sabra Hummus Parent Company Bans Animal Tests After PETA Talks

Following discussions with PETA, Strauss Group, the second-largest food and beverage company in Israel and the parent company of the U.S.’ top-selling hummus brand, Sabra, has adopted a new policy banning laboratory experiments on animals.

In previous deadly tests on animals conducted at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, an experimenter funded by Strauss Group fed mice a low-fat, high-fat, or ketogenic diet and then starved them for 12 hours before killing and dissecting them. Some animals were starved for 20 hours every day for eight weeks. In a letter to the company, PETA pointed out that since all the tests involved common food ingredients with no toxicity concerns, studies could have been safely conducted using human volunteers or other non-animal methods—and numerous such studies have already been published.

“Sabra hummus lovers can rejoice that their purchases will no longer contribute to experiments in which gentle animals are starved, poisoned, and killed and which are irrelevant to human health,” said PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA is calling on food and beverage companies still clinging to cruel and archaic animal tests to follow Strauss Group’s example and leave these unsavory practices behind.”

Strauss Group, which is also partnering with an Israeli startup company to develop lab-grown, slaughter-free meat, joins a growing list of dozens of major food companies that have recently worked with PETA to end animal testing and adopt groundbreaking new policies banning this practice, including Asahi Group Holdings, Barilla, The Coca-Cola Co., General Mills, The Hershey Co., House Foods, Kellogg, Kikkoman, Lipton, Ocean Spray, PepsiCo., POM Wonderful LLC, and Welch’s.

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