Critics of dairy operations, such as Mercy for Animals,PETAand The Humane Society of the U.S., maintain animal abuse is common in the industry. They deserve to be treated humanely. When used ethically, cameras not only provide monitoring and oversight but can be used to enhance employee feedback, training, and on-farm culture. We understand that providing cows with great nutrition, along with maintaining clean, safe, comfortable environments, is not only important to their overall well-being, but leads to great-tasting, high-quality milk. So even though Fairlife claims to be making efforts to improve animal welfare and sustainability at its supplier farms, there is no way for consumers to truly monitor it plus, exploitation of the cows reproductive system and eventual slaughter are both unavoidable in the dairy industry. In 2015, Fairlife entered into an exclusive partnership with Chick-fil-A to create their Greek Yogurt Parfait; Coca-Cola also began to distributing Fairlife milk, Core Power, and Yup Milk that same year. Our supplying farms are committed to continuously improving standards and everyday practices. Our leadership team is working closely with the fairlife Animal Welfare Advisory Council to maintain comprehensive animal welfare priorities. | 2 p.m. Dairy Its like a car salesman saying that he is selling a sporty car at great value price, Flora said. The line of delicious, lactose-free fairlife products includes: fairlife ultra-filtered milk, which has 50% more protein and 50% less sugar than regular milk; fairlife with DHA, ultra-filtered milk with DHA Omega-3 fatty acids to support brain health; fairlife YUP!, a line of flavored milks; fairlife CorePower High Protein Shakes, a sports The $200m production and distribution facility is scheduled to open later this year, bringing around 140 jobs to the area.. His attorney, Charles Dargo, told Newton Superior Judge Daniel Molter that by Dec. 11, Gardozo-Vasquezs next scheduled hearing, he hoped to work something out with the county prosecutor. ARM also says that it did not set out to target Fair Oaks, but rather had its investigator apply to several farms in the area. Consumers are ditching diets for intuitive eating. IE 11 is not supported. Animal cruelty, itself, is a felony now a la Trump, and if nothing gets taken to court, we could always storm Fair Oaks and free the cattle 539 purple_potatoes 2 yr. ago Animal cruelty, itself, is a felony now a la Trump Unfortunately, like almost all laws addressing animal cruelty, farmed animals are explicitly excluded from the order. Members of that group obtained jobs at the farm and, over the course of several months, recorded multiple incidents of systemic and illegal abuse, Chicago TV station WMAQ reports. Nicole Axworthy is the News Editor at VegNews and author of the cookbook DIY Vegan. As co-founder with her husband Mike of Select Milk Producers, Fair Oaks Farms and the fairlife brand, McCloskey spoke about "the spark of innovation" to a crowd of over 500 at the 2020 Pennsylvania Dairy Summit in State College last Thursday, Feb. 6. This is a commitment that we share with our supplying farm partners. Fairlife Animal Abuse - Howler News In early 2019, people from the Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) went undercover to the Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana and recorded countless acts of gruesome abuse towards the cows. Operation Fairlife On June 12, 2019, ARM released a second and shocking investigation following its Operation Fair Oaks Farm Dairy Adventure in Indiana. In June 2020, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Coca-Cola for allegedly falsely advertising that Fairlife products contain milk from cows that are treated ethically, humanely, and with an "extraordinary" amount of care and the farming practices used are environmentally sustainable when, according to plaintiffs, the cows are routinely abused and mistreated. Fairlife milk is labeled with promises to consumers that they provide "extraordinary care and comfort for our cows" and even encourages their customers to visit their flagship farm "so you can see for yourself." She is a graduate of Ball State University with a major in journalism and . In 2020 and 2021- 100% of the farms that supply our Midwest processing plant achieved Validus Certification. On Jan. 3, 2020, Coca-Cola acquired the remaining equity stake in fairlife. vOut = vOut.toLowerCase(); Plaintiffs in another high-profile class action lawsuit also filed in 2019 over animal welfare claims (taking issue with references to 'happy cows' on Ben & Jerry's packaging)were less successful, with brand owner Unilever persuading the court to toss the case in 2020 (and famously observing that it never said all of the cows supplying its milk were happy). He had also been charged with a felony count of torturing or mutilating a vertebrate animal. In the spring of 2022, the class action lawsuit against Fairlife finally came to a close. Our team continues to work to advance animal care within our supply chain and the industry. 2022 AnimalLoveTalk.com | Contact us: contact@animallovetalk.com, Two federal lawsuits filed against Fairlife milk, Zookeepers fight to keep animals safe at Kyiv zoo as Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, Reacting to 11/09/2022 Still Sick Health Update Dealing with Epstein-Barr Virus #ExposedByJools, The new laws will go into effect on July 1, graphic video filmed at Indianas Fair Oaks Farms, new footage was released by Animal Recovery Mission, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, standard practice across the dairy industry, Bergen County Animal Shelter & Adoption Center, UPDATE: Portage man dead in weekend of violence at two local hotels, officials say, On Point Animal Hospital North Myrtle Beach. For female cows to produce milk for farmers to take, farmers must first artificially inseminate the cows once a baby is born, farmers must separate mother and calf, otherwise the calf would nurse from his or her mother. dataLayer.push(dataLayerNews); In addition, were making significant investments in collaboration with our farmer partners to enable the implementation of our evolving approaches to animal care. It takes an investment to develop, innovate, and improve upon all areas of our animal welfare program. googletag.cmd.push(function () { Derrer told TODAY that prior to the first videos release, her office had never received a complaint about Fair Oaks Farms. , All of our full-time supplying dairy partners are audited by Validus, an independent third-party animal welfare certification firm, and are certified in animal welfare, worker care, and environmental practices.. According to the Chicago Tribune, Fairlife's CEO Mike Saint John said the company discontinued milk deliveries from Fair Oaks Farms, four dairy workers were fired and three were charged with animal cruelty. googletag.display('text-ad1'); Citing the undercover video footage, plaintiffs argued those claims were false and that they had suffered an economic loss. Consumers worried about supporting farms with inhumane practices may look for these brands and labels, which designate dairy producers that comply with the ASPCAs standards. Employees were observed slapping, kicking, punching, pushing, throwing and slamming calves, ARM said in a statement at the time, as per TODAY. When dairy cows no longer produced milk or were too sick, workers told the ARM investigator that those dairy cows would go to McDonalds for Big Macs or to become dog food. We truly appreciate your understanding, a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to the Chicago-Sun Times. On June 12, 2019, ARM released a second and shocking investigation following itsOperation Fair Oaks Farm Dairy Adventurein Indiana. In particular, Fairlife has been accused of animal abuse on several occasions. Training All supplying farms have regularly scheduled training for those who work with animals, as outlined and defined by the FARM Animal Care Program. fairlife discontinued We welcome all questions, concerns, and ideas, which you can submit to [emailprotected]. fairlife only works with farms that have a zero tolerance policy for animal abuse. ", As to the size of the settlement, he added:"While Im not privy to any behind the scenes information in this case, Im sure the settlement is reflective of the information that came out during discovery and the potential liability to the defendants if the case proceeded to trial.". The UK-based campaign group Scrap Factory Farming has launched a legal challenge against industrial animal agriculture; the challenge is in the process of judicial review. | Business Advice. Richard Couto, the founder of ARM, said he was not surprised with the lighter sentence. Every farm in our supply chain is subject to regular third-party unannounced audits. In partnership with our supplying farms, we have significantly strengthened our animal care programs and processes since 2019 including improving oversight with camera monitoring, a third-party animal welfare advisory board and increasing the number of unannounced audits at our supplying farms. Other products in the Fairlife stable include ice cream and Core Power protein shakes. The Newton County prosecutors office charged three men accused of abusing young calves at Fair Oaks Farms: Santiago Ruvalcaba Contreros, 31 Edgar Gardozo Vazquez, 36 and Miguel Angel Navarro Serrano, 38. There was not a single time when the cows received medical care even though they suffered from injuries and infections. Other than this, they have not provided any evidence of how they have changed. While a fringe movement, Scrap Factory Farming has already accrued some serious backers, including the legal team of Michael Mansfield QC. The controversy led to businesses dropping Fairlife products, including Stack & Van Til, Jewel-Osco and Tonys Fresh Market. The milk is filtered to concentrate thenaturally occurring protein in a process that removes most of the lactose (milk sugar). The company says it is also taking a closer look at its supply chain following an undercover expose last June that reported severe calf abuse at one of its supplying farms. var reg = new RegExp('\\W+', "g"); Leadership Investment fairlife has invested in additional leadership roles to oversee our animal welfare program and partner with our supplying farms to bring our vision to life. A video released by the Animal Recovery Mission shows animal abuse and drug use by employees at Fair Oaks Farms. ", Webinar These videos show the abuse at Fair Oaks Farm is not anomalous, as Fairlife has argued. dataLayerNews = {}; These lawsuits could push more companies to think about animal welfare in their practices to avoid the potential fallout Fairlife currently faces. Days after, fairlife introduced refrigerated creamers made with the company's nonfat ultrafiltered reduced-sugar milk. With mobilitys significant impact on Fonterra | 02-Aug-2022 Ensuring that the animals who provide fairlife dairy products are cared for and cared about is a top priority for fairlife. The company also promised to increase animal welfare checks and will no longer get dairy from farms that violate its animal abuse policy. Our holistic approach to animal welfare has four components: Recommended Reading: Eagle Animal Hospital Liberty Mo. *The fairlife case is 1:19-cv-03924, US district court northern district of Illinois, eastern division. | Infographic. Anna Ortiz is the breaking news/crime reporter for The Times, covering crime, politics, courts and investigative news. Coca-Cola and Fairlife have addressed animal abuse that occurred at Fair Oaks Farm, a supplier for Fairlife, after a video of employees abusing cows was released online by Animal . Our commitment to animal welfare is a key part of our pledge to provide you and your family with safe, highly nutritious products. Issues identified during audits will be acted upon with urgency, to ensure that any undesirable actions or behaviors are addressed swiftly and appropriately. We have continued regular, unannounced audits of all farms that supply milk to fairlife. FARM mandates that all farm employees who handle animals must complete stockmanship training. Members worked as employees while wearing a hidden camera. These criminal acts of abuse of the dairy cows contradict the Fairlife and Coca-Cola statements. Table of Contents show. You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/, Operation Fair Oaks Farms Dairy Adventure, Operation Gray's & Danny's Slaughterhouse, Operation Grays & Dannys Slaughterhouse. Thats why weve established the fairlife Animal Welfare Advisory Council, an independent council that consists of nationally and internationally recognized experts in animal welfare. Though the newly released footage was taken last year by the same undercover agent who took video showing the farms calves being abused, its release has trigged a new wave of protests as the brand continues to do damage control. Based in Chicago, Fairlife operatesprocessing and bottling plants in Coopersville, Michigan; Dexter, New Mexico; Peterborough, Ontario; and Phoenix, Arizona. She was among the featured speakers that were sponsored by ADA Northeast. Fairlife's website states that after ARM exposed Fairlife's cruelty, the dairy company stopped buying milk from Fair Oaks, and established "a robust welfare program" with their other farms, which Fairlife has put over $8 million into. Coca-Cola, in a . Four lawsuits have been filed against Fairlife, the high-protein milk producer, with one naming Coca-Cola as a defendant, Coca-Cola, which owns Fairlife in a joint venture with. More critical is the need to drive a strong culture that consistently and continuously enables the care and well-being of animals 24-7. No court records were available on the remaining defendants. While some of the lawsuits might settle before trial to avoid additional damage, the negative attention from the filings will likely hurt the brand. Consumers rely on Fairlife's representations of how it treats its animals, and are willing to pay a premium price "for goods and foodstuffs that are grown in humane, sustainable ways," the complaint reads. { Its subjective, he said. Calves were stabbed and beaten with steel rebars, hit in the mouth and face with hard plastic milking bottles, kneed in the spine, burned in the face with hot branding irons, subjected to extreme temperatures, provided with improper nutrition, and denied medical attention.. The allegations against Fair Oaks Farm in Fair Oaks, Ind., came to light following a months-long investigation by Animal Recovery Mission, an animal-rights group. "Fairlife's products, as demonstrated, are sold at as much as a 100% markup over its competitors," according to the lawsuit. According to fairlife, the company has implemented a Zero Tolerance Policy of animal abuse for all farms that supply milk for their products. Cows are emotionally complex animals, just like us. All three companies issued statements, posted special web pagesupdating the public and committed to cleaning up internal operations and adopting new standards to avoid further instances of animal abuse at supplying dairies. Never miss out on breaking stories, recipes, and vegan deals, All-things vegan,in your mailbox and inbox, Copyright 2023 Fresh Healthy Media, LLC. Coca-Cola owned ultra-filtered milk brand fairlife has agreed to step up animal welfare oversight at supplier farms as part of a $21m agreement to settle a series of lawsuits filed in the wake of . These are really the last true concentration camps left on planet Earth, Richard Couto, the founder of ARM, told NBC 5 Chicago on Wednesday. Indiana-based Fair Oaks Farmsone of the largest dairy farms in the United States and a producer of milk under Fairlife Corporationrecently terminated three of its high-ranking executives. The founder of ARM, Couto, said: "Fair Oaks Farms was the worst abuse towards newborn babies that [he had] ever seen." We partner with like-minded farmers who are mutually committed to our belief and compassion for continuously improving animal welfare and worker engagement. In January 2020, Coca-Cola bought out its partners to take full ownership of Fairlife. but boycotting Fairlife isn't the way to do it. Click here to go back home! As a consumer, you have the power to make more informed and compassionate choices so that the products you purchase are free from cruelty to animals and alignment with the companys animal welfare stances. The cows are removed from their holding barns three times a day to be milked, day and night. Fairlife also hired a vet as its Director of Animal Welfare and Sustainable Farming in January 2020, and the company claims to now conduct third-party audits of its farms. This is her first year being part of the Howler News Staff and she is very excited. However, this footage was a wake-up call to dairy consumers everywhere. Looking for vegan recipes? In fact, the coffee category is . Were still looking at the evidence, Dargo, a DeMotte attorney, said outside the courtroom. But weve got video., Recommended Reading: Bergen County Animal Shelter & Adoption Center. Founded by Indiana dairy farmers Mike and Sue McCloskey in 2012 as a joint venture between The Coca-Cola Company and Select Milk Producers (a co-op of 99 family-owned farms started by the McCloskeys in 1994),Fairlifewas fully acquired by Coca-Cola in 2020. As explained by the Animal Legal & Historical Center, ag-gag laws were actually first instituted in response to undercover activists, and these laws are the governments way of protecting the meat, dairy, and egg industries . Join Vimeo Milk company Fairlife was the subject of a major controversy in 2020, when undercover footage of employees physically abusing cows went viral, despite the companys claims that their cows were humanely treated. With that said, well-planned auditing processes of our farms, conducted independently and routinely, reinforce our commitment to our priorities of daily on-farm animal care and continuous improvement. Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) is an organization promoting the cessation of severe animal cruelty. Share our article, as well as photos and footage from the investigation, with friends and family on social media. More on Continuously Investing in Animal Welfare Leadership, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. A 2-year-old video of alleged animal abuse at a Northwest Indiana dairy farm has gone viral again, generating a new wave of social media outrage and renewed calls to boycott Fairlife, a Chicago-based premium milk brand. for (var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) fairlife says it immediately discontinued the use of all milk from the farm and conducted multiple . Thank you for pursuing this. Some of the violations observed are as follows: Maltreatment and Excessive Abuse Dairy of Cows Cows tormented, kicked, hit with shovels, and stabbed with screwdrivers by vet tech crews and animal caregivers. Fairlife, which is owned by Coca-Cola, quickly cut ties with the dairy after the video first went viral. Fair Oaks Farms is the flagship farm for Fairlife, a national brand of higher protein, higher calcium and lower fat milk. What topped it all of was the oxymoron of it all. commitments to change how they do business. About fairlife great mornings start here come see how to create the perfect morning with fairlife and get a delicious start to the day with your favorite breakfast beverages.