PETA Giving Away KFC's Plant-Based Nuggets In Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — If your Super Bowl menu includes Buffalo wings, the folks at PETA are hoping you will rethink it.

And they're even offering an alternative: free vegan chicken nuggets.

Members of the animal rights activist organization will be outside the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Route 37 in Toms River on Saturday, handing out hundreds of the fried chicken restaurant's new Beyond Fried Chicken.

The group said the giveaway is part of its national “Fight the Bite” campaign, which it says includes "an in-your-face Super Bowl ad," to mark the launch of the new KFC offering.

“It’s no skin off our backs to order the crispy, cruelty-free nuggets now available at KFC instead of meaty ones, but it’s a matter of life and death for chickens,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a news release. “PETA asks that everyone kick off their Super Bowl feasts with foods that leave animals in peace.”

KFC is at 222 Route 37 East in Toms River, and PETA representatives are scheduled to be there at 1 p.m., the organization said.

KFC launched the plant-based Beyond Fried Chicken in partnership with Beyond Meat in January. The restaurants are offering the Beyond Fried Chicken for a limited time, while supplies last, the company said when it was launched.

"It’s packed with delicious flavor and the juicy satisfaction that you’d expect from KFC’s iconic fried chicken but in a plant-based option that’s still finger lickin’ good," KFC said in a news release.

The news release notes, however, that the "highly-anticipated plant-based* Beyond Fried Chicken" is "*Not prepared in vegan/vegetarian manner."

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