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YES! ON PROP 2 CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES BAY AREA VOTER OUTREACH EFFORTS AT SLOW FOOD NATION '08

Event organizers and key participants urge a YES! on Prop 2

San Francisco, CA - August 28. 2008 –This weekend the YES! on Prop 2 campaign – including approximately 50 Bay area volunteers – will encourage the expected 50,000 participants in the Slow Food Nation ’08 events to vote YES! on Prop 2 this November, marking the start of the campaign’s official voter outreach activities in the Bay Area.

Slow Food Nation (SFN), a subsidiary non-profit of Slow Food USA and part of the international Slow Food movement, has enthusiastically endorsed Prop 2, and earlier this week sent an email to all family farmers in the SFN network urging them to endorse Prop 2 also.

“Californians who want to prevent animal cruelty, promote food safety, and protect the environment should vote yes on Prop 2,” commented Prop 2 endorser Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, who will be speaking on several panels during Slow Food Nation.

Prop 2 will provide more humane treatment of farm animals by phasing out small crates and cages on industrial factory farms where the animals don’t have enough room to stand up, turn around, and extend their limbs. SFN’s endorsement of Prop 2 is added to a broad coalition that includes the Consumer Federation of America, the California Veterinary Medical Association, The Humane Society of the United States, the Center for Food Safety, the Sierra Club, the United Farm Workers, the Organic Consumers Association, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, Farm Sanctuary, California family farmers, and other consumer protection, environmental, and animal welfare organizations and prominent individuals.

Among SFN’s speakers are many other Prop 2 endorsers, including best-selling authors Schlosser and Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food), and representatives from endorsing companies Whole Foods Market and Bon Appetit Management Company. Other Prop 2 endorsers participating in SFN include Fred Kirschenmann (Kirschenmann Family Farms), Eric Holt-Gimenez (Food First), Andrew Kimbrell (Center for Food Safety), Ron Strochlic (California Institute for Rural Studies), and Nicolette Hahn-Niman.

“As the YES! on Prop 2 campaign launches our Bay Area voter outreach efforts in San Francisco – whose board of supervisors and Mayor Gavin Newsom have endorsed Prop 2 – we share a common vision with the individuals and organizations at Slow Food Nation for more humane and sustainable farming practices,” said YES! on Prop 2 campaign manager Jennifer Fearing. “Factory farmers have not only harmed animals, but have also put our public health and food safety at risk. All animals deserve humane treatment, including those raised for food.”