Friend of the Earth and Friend of the Sea, sustainability certification programs operated by the World Sustainability Organization, have announced updated standards for food service operators, including restaurants, cafés, caterers, hotels, and tourism providers, elevating animal welfare and plant-based sourcing requirements to mandatory certification criteria.
Under the revised Friend of the Earth/Friend of the Sea Sustainable Restaurants standard, food service companies must ensure at least 30% of menu offerings are plant-based while sourcing all seafood, chicken, eggs, pork, and other animal proteins exclusively from producers avoiding cages, crates, and ongoing tethering with documented humane slaughter methods. Both requirements are mandatory to qualify for and retain certification. Over 500 restaurants globally currently hold certification under the Sustainable Restaurants standard.
The companion Sustainable Tourism Facilities standard for hotels, resorts, and tourism providers requires either 30% plant-based menu offerings with cage-free animal protein sourcing, or demonstrating 30% food waste reduction from the operator’s existing baseline. The alternative pathway acknowledges operational diversity while maintaining sustainability ambition.
“Pairing meaningful animal welfare requirements with a strong plant-based foods benchmark is exactly the kind of standard needed for true sustainability,” said Ribbin Nichapa, Corporate Engagement Manager at Lever Foundation, which collaborated on the standards development. “The updated policies from Friend of the Earth and Friend of the Sea set a clear, credible, and common-sense standard that gives certified restaurants, hotels and food service companies something meaningful to point to with their customers.”
Certification Landscape Shift Toward Mandatory Standards
The updated standards reflect broader movement across sustainability certification schemes toward embedding animal welfare and plant-based foods as core requirements rather than optional commitments. The Global Sustainable Tourism Council, which certifies hotels and restaurants globally, introduced its first Food and Beverage Standard earlier in 2026 requiring at least 30% of main dishes to be plant-based, signaling industry-wide recognition that food service sustainability requires the integration of protein sourcing and menu composition standards.
The mandate for cage-free sourcing and humane slaughter methods directly addresses animal welfare dimensions of food service sustainability. The requirement spans multiple protein categories — seafood, poultry, eggs, pork — preventing operators from meeting standards by selectively complying with only certain protein sources.
The Sustainable Tourism Facilities standard’s inclusion of food waste reduction as an alternative pathway acknowledges that hospitality operators face distinct operational contexts where plant-based menu restructuring or supply chain transitions may require longer timelines than waste reduction implementation. The 30% waste reduction target — mirroring the plant-based percentage — creates an equivalent environmental impact incentive across alternative compliance pathways.
