Meatless Monday and Communities

Meatless Monday offers a simple way to improve our food system: skip meat one day a week. It’s a small change, but the collective impact is amplified when more people take action. This section explores the reach and impact of Meatless Monday in restaurants, schools, worksites, health care and communities, and among individuals.

farmers market

The Reach and Impact of Meatless Monday 

  • A New York hospital system implemented Meatless Monday in its cafeterias by offering a discounted meatless dish on Mondays. Read the Meatless Monday at NYP Evaluation report.
  • Food service professionals reflect on their experience, lessons learned, successes and challenges implementing Meatless Monday. Read the Meatless Monday Best Practices Food Service report and the easy-to-use Best Practices Guide.
  • The what, why and how of Meatless Monday. Meat, Menus and Meatless Monday briefly describes the rationale for eating less meat, the available evidence about drivers and influencers of meat consumption, and the impact and reach of Meatless Monday.  
  • Meatless Monday Through the Years shares findings from 15 years of consumer surveys about meat consumption and Meatless Monday.  
  • A New York town successfully implemented Meatless Monday as part of its climate action agenda. Read the full Role of Community Based Efforts paper or a summary brief.  
  • Strategies for university meat reduction is a systematic review that lends insights into the merits and mechanisms underlying strategically integrated approaches to dietary change in university dining settings.

Community Health and Food Safety  

The global demand for meat drives the industrial livestock sector and contributes to the growing public health crisis of antibiotic resistance and animal-to-human spread of diseases. 

  • Read our brief, Meatless Monday for Food Safety and Health to learn more about the public health and food safety concerns related to intensive animal production.