Vegetarian food giant BOCA, owned by Kraft Heinz, has just launched a truly unique vegan turkey burger. This cruelty-free, plant-based patty is said to be the first of its kind.

Unlike some other burgers in the BOCA range that still contain dairy, the Original Turk’y Veggie Burger is 100% vegan. Animal advocacy organization Compassion Over Killing (COK) has been urging Kraft Heinz to make all BOCA products entirely plant-based, calling on the company to eliminate cow’s milk completely. Their petition calling for these changes has garnered almost 50,000 signatures.

“As consumers increasingly decide that cruelty on their plates just won’t fly, it’s clear that a soaring market will gobble up the new vegan turkey burger from BOCA,” said Laura Cascada, director of corporate outreach for COK. “Innovative vegan products are topping food trends and driving sales, especially plant-based milks and cheeses. Now is the time for Kraft Heinz to continue moving its BOCA brand forward by dropping cruel and unhealthy dairy from the product line.” 

An estimated 300 million turkeys are killed in the US every year for food, enduring cruel factory-farm conditions and an inhumane slaughter process that causes many birds to be scalded alive.

Following a COK campaign in 2010, BOCA removed all eggs from its line. This latest addition to their vegan line is an excellent step, but we hope they will once again listen to the tens of thousands of people calling for cruelty-free food and cut out dairy farm cruelty by removing cow’s milk from the rest of their products.