Victory! PepsiCo to Allow Shareholder Vote on Bull-Abuse Concerns After Lawsuit

For Immediate Release:
February 24, 2026

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

New York –

Less than a day after PETA Foundation attorneys sued PepsiCo to seek answers on whether bulls are forced to haul carts overloaded with up to four times the legal load of sugarcane for its products, PepsiCo has reversed course and agreed to include a proposal from shareholder Kerry Masters at its 2026 annual meeting, requesting a report about the treatment of animals in its supply chains.

PepsiCo’s bottling partner in India is part of an industry where bulls have been beaten with sticks and whips as they struggle to pull carts illegally overloaded with up to 8,000 pounds of sugarcane. Not only does this grueling labor leave bulls with painful abscesses and torn muscles, but many are left with bloody gashes on their faces from barbed-wire spikes that rip into their skin if they “disobey” by turning their heads and torn septums from ropes threaded through their nostrils and used to pull them forward when they falter.

The shareholder resolution, submitted by PETA in November on behalf of Masters, confronts PepsiCo executives for failing to address the well-documented cruelty even when humane solutions are already readily available—including eco-tractors that can replace multiple bulls in one go, and that improve production and delivery efficiency. PETA had previously alerted PepsiCo to a range of abuses, noting that cruelty to animals violates the company’s Global Policy on Animal Welfare, and asked PepsiCo to require its partners and suppliers to mechanize.

*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*

“Customers deserve to know if bulls are being worked to exhaustion and death for the sugar in Pepsi’s soft drinks, and the company’s shareholders must seek accountability,” says PETA Foundation General Counsel, Litigation Asher Smith. “PETA is urging PepsiCo to adhere to its own animal welfare policies and calling on its shareholders to compel the company to disclose exactly what it is doing—if anything—to stop 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.