PepsiCo Sued Over Attempt to Bury PETA Shareholder Resolution Over Abuse of Bulls

For Immediate Release:
February 20, 2026

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

New York, N.Y. –

PETA Foundation attorneys have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against PepsiCo, Inc. over the company’s attempt to quash a shareholder resolution seeking a report on the treatment of animals in PepsiCo’s supply chains—including in India, where bulls are forced to haul carts overloaded with up to four times the legal load of sugarcane, causing physical suffering and handler abuse to keep the exhausted bulls moving. The resolution confronts PepsiCo executives for failing to address the well documented cruelty even when humane solutions exist—including eco-tractors that can replace multiple bulls in one go, and that improve production and delivery efficiency.

The resolution was submitted by PETA in November on behalf of a PepsiCo shareholder after it was revealed that the company sources sugar in regions where bulls frequently suffer bloody wounds from the barbed-wire spikes that tear into their faces if they “disobey” by turning their heads—with some worked to death. PETA had previously alerted PepsiCo to a range of abuses, noting that cruelty to animals violates the company’s Global Animal Welfare Policy, and asked PepsiCo to require its partners and suppliers to mechanize. Yet despite more than 50,000 PETA supporters urging PepsiCo to make the change, the beverage company has failed to act—and is now seeking to exclude the resolution proposal from its upcoming annual shareholder meeting.

As laid out in the lawsuit, PepsiCo violated Rule 14a‑8 of the Exchange Act by failing to notify the shareholder of purported easily rectifiable “deficiencies” in the proposal. The lawsuit seeks to compel PepsiCo to include the resolution in its proxy, where shareholders are able to vote on it.

*The bull to the left cannot lower his head due to how tightly the rope piercing his nostrils is tied to the yoke. Credit: Animal Rahat*

“If PepsiCo doesn’t want to face questions about whether it’s living up to the very animal welfare policy it promotes, there’s an easy solution: it can ensure that its products aren’t produced on the backs of abused bulls,” says PETA Foundation General Counsel, Litigation Asher Smith. “PETA is pushing PepsiCo to produce a simple report on how it is, or isn’t, addressing cruelty in its supply chain.”

Animal Rahat, a PETA-supported animal protection charity in India, has worked since 2011 to replace bullock-driven carts with more efficient and cost-effective mechanized alternatives through its Sugarcane Industry Mechanization Project. Through the project’s influence, one-third of Maharashtra state’s sugar production has been mechanized. A single tractor is capable of transporting up to 18 tons of sugar per trip, providing owners with improved income opportunities.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.