Fair Oaks Farms is a museum, restaurant, gift shop and hotel built around a working dairy farm. 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 . 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. Citing the undercover video footage, plaintiffs argued those claims were false and that they had suffered an economic loss. On June 4, 2019, ARM released a four-minute video documenting egregious abuse of calves at the farm including calves who were stabbed with steel bars, hit in the face with hard plastic milking bottles, kneed in the spine, and subjected to extreme temperatures sometimes leading to death. 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 . 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. Employees were observed slapping, kicking, punching, pushing, throwing and slamming calves. With mobilitys significant impact on Fonterra | 02-Aug-2022 FARM mandates that all farm employees who handle animals must complete stockmanship training. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Let Food Dive's free newsletter keep you informed, straight from your inbox. Fairlife Sales Slow in Wake of Alleged Dairy Cow Abuse Coke CEO Expects Fairlife Sales Rebound July 30, 2019 The fallout from a video showing alleged animal abuse at a dairy farm tied to milk producer Fairlife has led to slower sales growth for the company's chief product. Gardozo-Vasquez pleaded guilty Monday before being sentenced, according to Newton County court records. The Miami-based animal welfare group had infiltrated the popular dairy farm and captured undercover footage of the incidents. July 13, 2022 by Maureen Vega. The founder of ARM, Couto, said: Fair Oaks Farms was the worst abuse towards newborn babies that [he had] ever seen. The video was published in the summer of 2019 and went viral, sparking countless protests and boycotts. If a company does the right thing from the start and updates consumers on changes, it may be able torecover its reputation. 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. Claims like these inspire people to choose these products, because they believe that they are better. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.". 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. The premise is that factory farming . Holdman said it's too soon to say whether he'll refile the bill during the 2020 legislative session, The (Northwest . A second, extended video was released by ARM on June 7, 2019, showing more footage of abuse at Fair Oaks Farm. However, the plaintiffs argued that this wasnt the point. Richard Couto, the founder of ARM, said he was not surprised with the lighter sentence. Other than this, they have not provided any evidence of how they have changed. In particular, Fairlife has been accused of animal abuse on several occasions. Jan 6, 2020 Coca-Cola's vision for a broader beverage portfolio includes dairy brand Fairlife, which the company backed last year after reports of animal abuse at one of its suppliers. Fair Oaks Farms, headquartered in Fair Oaks, Indiana, and The Fairlife Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, have created brands about how their product is sourced based on promoting the proper and humane care of the cows. $(document).ready(function() { This includes regular, unannounced third party audits at 100% of our supplying farms throughout the year and adherence by our partners to animal care standards well beyond what the industry requires. but boycotting Fairlife isn't the way to do it. ", Webinar Four class action lawsuits have already been filed against high-protein milk brand fairlife, its founders, and JV partner Coca-Cola over alleged animal abuse at its flagship dairy farm in Indiana . ", Find our full statement here: https://t.co/Xj8dP8QgHF Facebook post here: https://t.co/HrQfglD3vV pic.twitter.com/1VMgDmsH9J, The company said it plans to visit the 30 other dairies that currently supply Fairlife and will conduct independent, third-party audits over the next 30 days to verify all animal husbandry practices at the farms, including all training, management and auditing practices. June 15, 2019 Previous Next Fairlife and Coca-Cola are left to face the music after an undercover video surfaced last week, showing severe calf abuse at Fair Oaks Farms. The footage could bolster the plaintiffs claims, Flora said. The calves were placed in confined sheds, and the mothers were sent right back to the milking rotary. Yesterdays protest outside of @CocaCola headquarters in #Atlanta urging them to drop @Fairlife milk products following @ARMInvestigatios undercover expos of horrific #calf abuse. Weve got thousands of em! 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. For any case, we need to review each act individually to determine if it meets the states definition of cruelty or abuse, said Denise Derrer, Public Information Director at the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, who is helping with the investigation. Vegan. Troubled Dairy Giant Fair Oaks Farms Terminates Top-Level Executives After Undercover Investigation. Training All supplying farms have regularly scheduled training for those who work with animals, as outlined and defined by the FARM Animal Care Program. While a fringe movement, Scrap Factory Farming has already accrued some serious backers, including the legal team of Michael Mansfield QC. In the wake of the scandal, Fairlife issued apologies and began conducting internal animal welfare investigations at multiple farms. In addition to academic expertise, several have direct experience working within the dairy industry in areas such as on-farm animal husbandry and management and provision of veterinary service on-farm. Disturbing video taken of calf abuse at Fair Oaks Farms. vOut +=', '; fairlife says it immediately discontinued the use of all milk from the farm and conducted multiple . Im satisfied by the plea, and Ill stand by it. Read Also: All About Animals Veterinary Services, Since then, we have taken vigilant, unwavering steps to actively monitor all human-animal interaction 24 hours a day by installing cameras throughout our farms, and bolstered these efforts with hiring an on-site animal welfare expert and conducting regular third-party audits to confirm our monitoring practices, to ensure we havent overlooked anything, the company said. 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. Plaintiffs suing Fairlife seek class-action status for alleged animal abuse at Fair Oaks Farms The Coca-Cola Company and Fair Oaks owners Mike and Sue McCloskey are named as co-defendants in the . People have been drinking cows milk for thousands of years, but the nature of commercial farming has undergone vast changes in the past century. Call Fairlife Milk's Chicago headquarters at 1-855-LIVEFAIR and tell them how you feel about their treatment of animals and their "humane" milk marketing. Share our article, as well as photos and footage from the investigation, with friends and family on social media. Our holistic approach to animal welfare has four components: Recommended Reading: Eagle Animal Hospital Liberty Mo. A dozen Chicago-area grocers pulled Fairlife from their shelves amid widespread backlash. 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. The Fairlife abuse scandal was a hoax perpetrated by a group of disgruntled employees. The new laws will go into effect on July 1. According to fairlife, the company has implemented a Zero Tolerance Policy of animal abuse for all farms that supply milk for their products. Consumers are ditching diets for intuitive eating. I feel that I was duped, like the rest of the country. Fairlife milk products are available nationwide. The verdict of these lawsuits will likely have an impact on future animal abuse cases, but for now Fairlife will be focusing on its reputation. Beyond audits, however, there is more to do to raise the bar on animal welfare. 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. Numerous lawsuits were filed in June of 2019 following the release of undercover video depicting abusive practices at Fair Oaks Farms located in northwest Indiana, citing false advertising by fairlife. Many of you have reached out to express your disappointment, heartbreak and anger regarding the videos released yesterday and we want you to know that we share those same feelings, the company posted on Facebook. Alan Bjerga insists that the U.S. dairy community takes the kinds of videos released by ARM very seriously and that it will not be forgotten anytime soon. 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. What many want to know is if anything has changed since the videos release. In June 2019, ARM published a video of the investigators most shocking footage, which quickly went viral. Our commitment to animal welfare is a key part of our pledge to provide you and your family with safe, highly nutritious products. 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. Topics covered: manufacturing, packaging, new products, R&D, and much more. dataLayerNews = {}; In our 10 years of being undercover, we have never seen such consistent, constant abuse to a newborn baby animal, ARM founder Richard Couto said, according to WMAQ. All rights reserved. Fairlife said that it will discontinue the use of milk from the farm, adding it only made up 5 percent of its supply, and will audit the rest of its farms. Due to the shocking footage, Fairlife has received backlash from animal rights' groups across the country. This undated photo provided by the Newton County Sheriff's Office in Kentland, Ind., shows Edgar Gardozo-Vasquez. During this time, ARM obtained undeniable evidence of inherent cruelty subjected daily to dairy cows within industrialized food production systems. Based in Indiana, the farm supplies milk to the popular milk brand Fairlife a partner of the Coca-Cola company .. var reg = new RegExp('\\W+', "g"); 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. This council, in collaboration with our supplying farmers and other industry leaders, makes sure that our priorities are grounded in the latest scientific research, ultimately resulting in exploring innovative animal welfare solutions. At Jewel-Osco we strive to maintain high animal welfare standards across all areas of our business, and work in partnership with our vendors to ensure those standards are upheld, a spokesperson for the grocery chain told TODAY Food. We truly appreciate your understanding, a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to the Chicago-Sun Times. Since its founding, Fairlife has advertised itself as believing that "exceptional cow care and sustainable farming practices yield higher quality milk," and celebrated its eco-friendly methods, like turning cow manure into biofuel for its trucks. After the hearing, Dargo said no plea had been set and that Gardozo-Vasquezs case still could go to trial. All three companies issued, work with dairy producers "to identify strengths and outline areas for improvement related to animal care. There is likely still animal cruelty on Fairlife's farms in 2021. 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. Operation FairLife from ARM Investigations on Vimeo. In addition to the states laws, the board refers to FARM when it comes to industry standards for handling and care. Daily, employees hit and punched cows and hit cows in the udders with milking claws. 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 Four farm employees shown in the videos have been terminated, as well. Homeless man turns down bus ticket, builds unlikely friendship with police . Theremaining lactose is broken down into simple sugars by adding lactase enzyme, so the milk still contains some sweetness. Every farm in our supply chain is subject to regular third-party unannounced audits. Your Ultimate Source for AllThings The company also promised to increase animal welfare checks and will no longer get dairy from farms that violate its animal abuse policy. Animal welfare ZERO Tolerance All farms that supply milk to fairlife have committed to ZERO TOLERANCE of animal abuse. commitments to change how they do business. It didnt come from us.. Coca-Cola, which has distributed Fairlife products across the country since 2014, also released a statement. There were comments under the video of the animal treatment saying, it didnt matter as they were going to be dead one day. So what about us? After a graphic video filmed at Indianas Fair Oaks Farms one of the countrys largest dairy operations was released earlier this month, more consumers are calling for retailers to cut ties with brands that have histories of documented animal abuse. He took undercover footage of the dairy farm during his few months working there, providing ARM with undeniable evidence of inherent cruelty subjected daily to dairy cows within industrialized food production systems. On Fairlifes website, they state, That the animals who provide fairlife dairy products are cared for and cared about is a top priority for fairlife. In 2020 they also hired a vet as the Director of Animal Welfare and Sustainable Farming. McCloskey said the video shines a light on the fact that his company needs to improve its employee onboarding procedures and overall commitment to animal welfare. Fairlife, which is a Coca-Cola brand, said it has stopped taking milk shipments from Fair Oaks Farm. Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) The AnimalRecovery Mission (ARM) once again goes undercover at Fair Oaks Farms, FairLife and the Coca-Cola Corporations. Fair Oaks Farms, a large dairy in northwest Indiana that runs popular tours for families and schoolchildren, came under fire last week when an animal welfare group released an undercover video. Employees were observed slapping, kicking, punching, pushing, throwing and slamming calves, ARM said in a statement at the time, as per TODAY. Fair Oaks investigation The extensive, year-long ARM investigation documented extreme animal abuse at the dairy companywhich bills itself as "humane"such as workers beating, choking, stabbing, and burning newborn calves, among other extreme instances of abuse and neglect. All rights reserved.Privacy Terms of Use Do Not Sell My Personal Information.