We truly appreciate your understanding, a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to the Chicago-Sun Times. A dairy that provides milk used in Fairlife dairy products stands accused of animal abuse, prompting some major retailers to stop selling the popular brand. Training All supplying farms have regularly scheduled training for those who work with animals, as outlined and defined by the FARM Animal Care Program. 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. Daily, employees hit and punched cows and hit cows in the udders with milking claws. This is her first year being part of the Howler News Staff and she is very excited. The extensive, year-long ARM investigation documented extreme animal abuse at the dairy companywhich bills itself as humanesuch as workers beating, choking, stabbing, and burning newborn calves, among other extreme instances of abuse and neglect. People all over the world were horrified to see evidence of such unnecessary abuse at the farm. In an email to FoodNavigator-USA, a fairlife spokesperson said: We stopped sourcing milk from Fair Oak Farms immediately following the 2019 incident and we have not sourced milk from them since. In keeping with current science and public expectations, well encourage and incentivize all supplying farms to pursue innovation that further ensures general animal comfort. Our team continues to work to advance animal care within our supply chain and the industry. "We have been in contact with fairlife about this situation and have full confidence in their management team to urgently address this issue with Fair Oaks Farms, which is a third-party supplier to fairlife. We apologize for any inconvenience., Tonys Express, which is also based in the Chicago metro area, said it will no longer carry Fairlife products in light of the devastating news.. News & Analysis on Food & Beverage Development & Technology. Other than this, they have not provided any evidence of how they have changed. The company also said it will sign updated contracts with suppliers requiring them to fire employees caught abusing an animal and cooperate with any law enforcement investigations. Yet many farmers argue that its in their best interest to treat their animals humanely. People all over the world were horrified to see evidence of such unnecessary abuse at the farm. ZERO Tolerance All farms that supply milk to fairlife have committed to ZERO TOLERANCE of animal abuse. Although this whole situation could cast a negative light on Fairlife, Coca-Cola, the dairy farm and the dairy industry by extension, the companies were quick to respond with commitments to change how they do business. We will also continue to work with Fair Oaks Farms to ensure specific actions are taken to address this situation and uphold our high standards for animal care.". Click on our CALL TO ACTION box for advice on ways to support this investigation. 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. }); Multipleclass action complaints were filed in 2019 after non-profit animal welfare group Animal Recovery Mission released harrowingvideos from an undercover investigation of Fair Oaks Farms in northwest Indiana- owned by fairlife founders Sue and Mike McCloskey showing animals being mistreated, which prompted fairlife to suspend deliveries from the farm and step up audits at all of its milk suppliers. Plaintiffs argued they had paid a premium for fairlife products, based on product labeling that assured customers the milk came from cows that were provided extraordinary care. The effort at damage control was fast and comprehensive. Three former employees who were seen kicking and throwing calves in the first video released by ARM were charged with animal cruelty last week. The letter stated that the decision was based on the release of several undercover videos by animal-rights group Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) and the impact of COVID-19 on business. Fairlife, they said, charged a premiumfor the express promises that dairy cows which produce their milk products were treated humanely, but did not have systematic measures in place to ensure those promises were truthful. In the spring of 2022, the class action lawsuit against Fairlife finally came to a close. Fair Oaks Farms released a video response to the animal cruelty revealed in an undercover video. 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Cows were forced fed and beaten until they could no longer move or were dead. Then you're going to LOVE our award-winning magazine! Now, two years later, a Fairlife milk settlement has been reached, at the price of $21 million. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The World Health Organization says mobility is critical for healthy ageing, as its a core concern seniors face. Related tags 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. vOut +=', '; Throughout the video, calves born less than an hour before were ripped away from their mothers. Something else could come up. In 2019, the Animal Recovery Mission went undercover at Fair Oaks Farm and released a video of workers throwing calves, hitting them with bottles, and much more. It is not what we stand for, and we are committed to fixing this and moving forward together.". Each farm has veterinarian oversight to provide frequent wellness checks to ensure the overall health and wellness of the animals. The Miami-based animal welfare group had infiltrated the popular dairy farm and captured undercover footage of the incidents. Dr. Hake will oversee fairlife audits and work with farmers on improvement plans. While the majority of U.S. dairy farms have 500 cows or less, thousands of smaller farms have gone out of business, consolidating milk production in the hands of ever-larger operations. Four farm employees shown in the videos have been terminated, as well. According to court filings, class members (anyone in the US who purchased fairlife products for personal use on or before April 27) are entitled to up to $20 with no valid proof of purchase, and up to $80 with valid proof of purchase (while the handful of named plaintiffs might receive $3,500 each), although claims will be subject to a pro rata increaseupward or downwarddepending upon the number filed., Coca-Cola and fairlife have also agreed to work with two unnamed nonprofits to implement significant injunctive relief that would create a monitoring and compliance program, aimed at ensuring their cows receive humane treatment., In an email to FoodNavigator-USA, a fairlife spokesperson said: We stopped sourcing milk from Fair Oak Farms immediately following the 2019 incident and we have not sourced milk from them since., The spokesperson added:Animal welfare is and will always be a top priority for fairlife. We partner with like-minded farmers who are mutually committed to our belief and compassion for continuously improving animal welfare and worker engagement. } Resulting from the Animal Recovery Missions release of its undercover investigation on Fair Oaks Farms, its quite clear that the company has been in a downward spiral for a year now, ARM founder Richard Kudo Couto said. " Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. In the wake of the controversy following the video's release, Fair Oaks Farms' founder Mike McCloskey announced that his company will be taking full responsibility and is putting actions in place to ensure this never happens again. On Wednesday, Fairlife LLC, which is distributed by the Coca-Cola Company in the U.S., announced that it had suspended all milk deliveries from the Fair Oaks Farms dairy farm identified in the video. The milk, which is ultra-filtered, is free of lactose and has a high amount of protein and calcium. The first two investigations released by ARM were . Well before the video exposing them was released, Fairlife had claimed many times, and it was also on their website that Nothing is as important to us as the health and well-being of our animals. Which was clearly a lie as it was revealed that they were, in fact, not caring for the animals. | 11 a.m. Click here to go back home! A second, extended video was released by ARM on June 7, 2019, showing more footage of abuse at Fair Oaks Farm. Failing to recognize the absurdity of the abuse at Fair Oaks Farm reminds of MLK's classic quote regarding injustice. The. She is a graduate of Ball State University with a major in journalism and . Indianapolis attorney Colin Flora, who among other things, specializes in class-action cases, told IndyStar the case has a decent chance of success, but could encounter a hurdle called the puffery defense. Based in Indiana, the farm supplies milk to the popular milk brand Fairlife a partner of the Coca-Cola company .. Topics covered: R&D, flavor trends, health & nutrition, scientific discoveries, new ingredients, and much more. I have personally reached out to ARMs founder, Richard Couto, to discuss a more symbiotic relationship but he has yet to reach back, he said. During this time, ARM obtained undeniable evidence of inherent cruelty subjected daily to dairy cows within industrialized food production systems. Parents are prioritizing their childrens health and wellness with 66% indicating they give their child nutritional supplements once a day*. An independent 3rd party auditor, Food Safety Net Services, has found zero observations or incidents of animal abuse on any supplying farms. Fairlife Milk, Cruelty & Inhumanity James Tiny Vest 61K subscribers Subscribe 10K views 3 years ago Special thanks to Brother Trauma for bringing this to my attention and to Animal Recovery. It is unclear if Fairlife will still get dairy from Fair . More on Continuously Investing in Animal Welfare Leadership, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Consumers are ditching diets for intuitive eating. 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 . Humane washing is the practice of making a misleading claim about the treatment of animals or the conditions in which they are born, raised, or killed. We have requested the names and identifiers of those terminated for animal cruelty by Fair Oaks Dairy Farms. So when they say the cattle are treated with extraordinary care, is there an objective measure it can be held up against?. Many of our long-term supplying partner dairy farms are Validus Certified annually. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. However, this footage was a wake-up call to dairy consumers everywhere. 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.. Humane washing efforts can range from using terms like natural or responsibly raised on labels or in marketing, to the imagery on product labels or in video advertisements showing animals in picturesque green pastures to multimillion dollar, multi-platform marketing campaigns misrepresenting products from animals raised on large factory farms as local food coming from family farms. However, before ARM released its footage of Fair Oaks, Fairlife had made plenty of claims in regards to animal welfare. As a veterinarian whose life and work is dedicated to the care, comfort and safety of all animals, this has affected me deeply," McCloskey said. Derrer told TODAY that prior to the first videos release, her office had never received a complaint about Fair Oaks Farms. They must also sign the Dairy Cattle Care Ethics Agreement on an annual basis. This Fair Oaks Farms Fairlife Dairy is one of several dairies belonging to Select Milk Producers Inc, which is also the producer of the Fairlife label. Operation FairLife from ARM Investigations on Vimeo. On Wednesday, ARM indicated it may release more videos. Charles Dargo, Gardozo-Vasquezs attorney, did not immediately respond to messages Thursday seeking comment. Fair Oaks Farms is the largest dairy farm in Indiana with 37,000 cows,TODAY reported. However, without similarly strict macronutrient 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 allegations of animal abuse at former flagship milk supplier Fair Oaks Farms. 01:59 - Source: CNN. Read Also: Monte Vista Small Animal Hospital. All farms have passed 100% of our critical care standards that require immediate action (examples of this include access to water, proper nutrition, and no branding), and all supplying farms are passing over 95% of our full audit comprised of over 120 standards. Numerous lawsuits were filed in June of 2019 following the release of undercover video by Animal Recovery Mission depicting abusive practices at Fair Oaks Farms located in northwest Indiana, citing false advertising by fairlife. Between February and April 2019, an ARM Investigator was hired as a milker by a Fair Oaks Farms Fairlife dairy in Indiana. Our continued commitment to industry-leading animal care is a journey that requires continuous improvement, and we are dedicated to that mission. Animal rights activists released undercover footage of workers at the farm kicking and punching cows, as well as using electric prods on them. Patricia Garhartt, 311 Washington Ave East, Rensselaer, NY 12144 In addition, Dr. Hake will lead our Animal Welfare Council. Issues identified during audits will be acted upon with urgency, to ensure that any undesirable actions or behaviors are addressed swiftly and appropriately. Animal Recovery Mission subsequently released two more investigations showing similar animal abuse against mothers and their calves at other dairies associated with Fairlife and Select Milk Producers. On June 12, however, new footage was released by Animal Recovery Mission purportedly showing Fair Oaks workers punching adult cows, hitting them with metal poles and allegedly breaking the tails of some cows which did not cooperate with employees. Fair Oaks Farms was founded in 1999 by Mike McCloskey. Nicole Axworthy is the News Editor at VegNews and author of the cookbook DIY Vegan. Other products in the Fairlife stable include ice cream and Core Power protein shakes. Advisory Council Weve convened an external team of leading, independent advisors to help fairlife chart its course and continuously challenge our thinking on animal welfare. Claims like these inspire people to choose these products, because they believe that they are better. $(document).ready(function() { 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. 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. commitments to change how they do business. What topped it all of was the oxymoron of it all. Thats why weve established the fairlife Animal Welfare Advisory Council, an independent council that consists of nationally and internationally recognized experts in animal welfare. So what is to say that they are still abusing their animals? A Fairlife milk investigation revealed animal abuse at Fair Oaks Farm. . 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." 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 group says the investigator worked at the farm, which has previously been a popular site for school field trips and group tours, for several months. for (var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) Food labeling and marketing Dairy-based ingredients, SweeGen | 24-Jan-2023 Troubled Dairy Giant Fair Oaks Farms Terminates Top-Level Executives After Undercover Investigation. 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. The form however, doesnt specifically define what constitutes abuse. Our holistic approach to animal welfare has four parts: CONTINUOUSLY INVESTING IN ANIMAL WELFARE LEADERSHIP STRONG FARMER PARTNERSHIPS OUR ANIMAL WELFARE PRIORITIES ONGOING GOVERNANCE CONTINUOUSLY INVESTING IN ANIMAL WELFARE LEADERSHIP We're committed to learning and leading. I feel that I was duped, like the rest of the country. The brand is distributed by The Coca-Cola Company. As we continue to grow and bring in new farming partners, we will work with them to gain Validus Certification. Those found guilty of animal abuse usually face dual penalties of jail time and fines. Fairlife has admitted that the calves seen in the undercover footage taken at Fair Oaks Farms were mistreated. Shot in 2018 by an undercover activist group investigator at Fair Oaks Farms, then the massive flagship dairy of Fairlife . The Coca-Cola Company conducted its own independent, third-party audits of fairlife's supplying dairy farms using auditors from Validus Verification services, who reported that they did not witness any acts of animal abuse at any of the locations. I typically don't click on videos depicting animal abuse allegations without first doing a little research of my own. *The fairlife case is 1:19-cv-03924, US district court northern district of Illinois, eastern division. Disturbing video taken of calf abuse at Fair Oaks Farms. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. All that is left is to ensure that it never happens again. Often when you say something is good quality, theres no objective quality of that. You May Like: San Luis Obispo County Animal Services. "A factor in our decision was the public response by Fair Oaks, asserting the notion that this was an isolated incident. He added that he wished ARM would have brought the video to light sooner, rather than waiting several months after the investigation was complete, in order to address the issues in a timely manner. . All rights reserved. dataLayerNews.related_tags = sanitize_gpt_value2("fairlife, ultra-filtered milk, Coca-cola, Animal welfare, lawsuits"); In an April 27 preliminary approval order giving the provisional thumbs up to a proposed settlement agreed by both parties on April 14, US district judge Robert M. Dow, Jr. said the defendants (Coca-Cola, fairlife, Select Milk Producers, Fair Oaks Farms, andMike and Sue McCloskey) had agreed to establish a $21m fund to settle the action owing to the cost and uncertainty of protracted litigation, although they did not admit any liability.