Contact: Jamie Evan Bichelman
Email: gro.doog4hctiws@beimaj
After vegan Olympic medalist Dotsie Bausch successfully pushed Starbucks, Dunkin’, Tim Hortons, and other coffee giants to drop their non-dairy upcharges, Bausch’s extensive corporate outreach and federal policy work has been recognized by ProVeg International.
LOS ANGELES — Vegan Olympic medalist Dotsie Bausch, the incomparably focused and relentless founder and executive director of the evidence-based nonprofit Switch4Good, has been named one of ProVeg International’s list of 20 women around the world working as changemakers to lead transformations of our food systems.
Known for her groundbreaking work and impassioned public statements in support of the dismantling of policies founded on principles of dietary racism, Bausch has most recently utilized her platform to successfully push Starbucks, Dunkin’, Tim Hortons, Dutch Bros, and other coffee giants to eliminate their non-dairy surcharges. Described as “fiercely advocating” for coffee chains to eliminate these unjust policies, Bausch and Switch4Good have been recognized by vegan media outlets and general news alike as the prominent organization leading the push to end all non-dairy surcharges in the retail coffee industry.
“It is a wonderful affirmation that many years of painstaking efforts to dismantle a broken food system and rebuild it in a more ethical and sustainable manner have been recognized by my peers,” Dotsie Bausch, the founder and executive director of Switch4Good, said.
Bausch’s transformative food system advocacy doesn’t end with coffee giants
Recognized by ProVeg International as the leader “responsible for plant-forward food policy changes in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines,” after multiple trips to Washington DC and immense efforts catalyzing thousands of followers to support Bausch’s push to revise the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the USDA successfully added soy milk as a recommended source of nutrients in the 2020-2025 iteration of the federal guidelines.
“This path requires an indefatigable approach and unending resilience in the face of policymakers or business leaders who don’t always value equity and may not always have the well-being of the planet in mind,” Bausch said. “Nevertheless, I will continue working with everything I’ve got to spread awareness of dietary racism, and to passionately promote a world that is kinder to the animals, the people, and the planet.”
Furthermore, Bausch successfully pushed for changes to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (better known as the WIC program), which resulted in an increased number of plant-based, non-dairy options for WIC recipients for the first time in the program’s five decades of existence.
Bausch is currently underway working with bipartisan policymaker support, as well as the backing of more than 200 racial and dietary justice advocates and groups, to introduce a bill into Congress that would, among many highlights, offer public schoolchildren the option to receive non-dairy milk in school lunches and begin mitigating the $400 million of taxpayer money wasted each year on unopened, discarded dairy milk cartons given as part of the National School Lunch Program.
To learn more about Bausch and Switch4Good’s efforts to push coffee companies around the world to drop their unjust non-dairy upcharges, learn more about Switch4Good’s efforts to continue improving federal policies relating to dairy, or to schedule an interview with Dotsie Bausch, contact gro.doog4hctiws@beimaj.
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About Switch4Good
Switch4Good is an evidence-based nonprofit that advocates for a dairy-free world and plant-based living. Founded in 2018 by Olympic medalist Dotsie Bausch, Switch4Good’s mission is to combat the distortion and disrupt the misinformation fed to us by the dairy industry. Switch4Good partnered with health experts, athletes, and the International Olympic Committee to write the first playbook for plant-based athletes titled “Let the Plant-based Games Begin.” The organization teamed up with Washington legislators to introduce the ADD SOY Act, a bill currently before Congress to get soy milk added as an option in U.S. schools. Switch4Good’s new Kids and Dairy Symptoms program (KiDS) is purposed with educating doctors, dietitians, and parents about the harm drinking cow’s milk does to kids. For more information, please visit www.switch4good.org.