Seth Tibbott with his first tempeh incubator that he built. Photo courtesy of Turtle Island Foods.
Our Featured Animal Ambassador for October 2012 is Seth Tibbott, the President and Founder of Turtle Island Foods. We asked Seth to share his insights with us about his family owned and independent meat alternative company, Turtle Island Foods.
Q: You became a vegetarian while attending college in Ohio in 1972, after reading “Diet for a Small Planet” by Francis Moore Lappe. The ideas presented in that book rang true with the teacher/naturalist career path you were preparing for. How does running Turtle Island Foods and distributing Tofurky products tie in to your original goals?
A: The environmental inefficiencies of the production of meat, first pointed out by Francis Moore Lappe, are still very much at the heart of our work. According to our research, it takes about 5 pounds of grain to make a pound of turkey meat and a half a pound of grain to make a pound of Tofurky. Our mission is to provide the world with an efficient, cruelty free, nutritious and delicious alternative to meat. When situations like this summers drought in the Midwestern US occur, grain becomes scarce, particularly in third world nations who are the first to feel the scarcity. This year already I have watched the tempeh makers in Indonesia petition their government for help because they could not afford to buy US soybeans. We raise and slaughter 10 billion animals per year in the US alone, and the effects on the environment are staggering. I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and have watched that body of water deteriorate immensely, largely due to the nitrates leaching into the water from the chicken factory farms on the eastern shore of the bay. With the population of the US on track to double by 2050, I tell you that it is just plain truth that this planet cannot afford to raise 20 billion animals per year without dire environmental consequences. Forty years after reading diet for a small planet, Tofurky and Turtle Island Foods are my small attempt to provide another path to the world based on the principals of that ground-breaking book.
Q: What is your proudest achievement at Turtle Island Foods?
A: My proudest achievement is that I have been able to build the company without having to sell any interest to any outside corporations or financial institutions. I have watched many passionate, entrepreneur driven meat alternative companies sell to some of the largest corporations on earth that inevitably change the mission and culture of the company. By keeping the company family owned and independent we are able to support the causes we believe in like non-gmo ingredients, animal advocacy and environmental causes. Almost invariably when a corporation buys a natural food brand, the mission of the company changes into one more focused on making money at the expense of ideals. I firmly believe that the Tofurky product line would not have ever been created in the context of a multi-national corporation.
Q: Can you talk about the changes you have observed over the years in terms of animal advocacy? How will Turtle Island Foods (including Tofurky products) continue to create positive change for animals in the future?
A: In the 1970s, there was not only no internet but also not much awareness about farm animal sufferings and rights. Farm animals truly were “ghosts in the machine” of the 1970s. Racial inequality and the Vietnam War were the principal social issues of the day. The internet has played a major role in advancing the cause of farm animal protection by creating a medium that anyone could use to get their message out, unfettered, from the censorship of corporate media. PETA was founded in 1980, the very same year I started making tempeh, and Farm Sanctuary began in 1986. A major goal at Turtle Island has always been to support non profits who align with our values and that is just what we intend to do in increasingly larger ways. We understand the need to make a decent profit to offer better benefits to our employees and keep the innovation juices flowing. But we also view ourselves as partners with so many noble organizations and initiatives that are sharing our journey to reinvent the world’s diet. We hope that as we grow, we can play a bigger and bigger part in supporting the work of the fine people who are working so hard to bring about change in our environment, our health and the well being of all sentient beings who travel with us.
Read Seth’s Animal Ambassador profile..
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