Expert: Tina Volpe - 12/8/2009

Question
Hi Tina,
I'm a vegetarian who is very disturbed by the treatment of dairy cows and egg-laying hens. Unfortunately, vegan cheeses and yogurts are hard to find and expensive (I'm a university student), so I was wondering if you could give me some good questions to ask dairy companies so I can be sure that their animals are being treated with respect.
Thanks!
Olivia

Answer
Hi Olivia,

You are right to be disturbed - even "cage free" eggs are not humane.  I can honestly say, none of these agribusinesses will be honest, nor do they care, and if you were to get someone to talk with you, the answer would be "our animals are treated excellent".  

With the consideration that not only are the animals raised for food abused, the worst abused are the dairy cows and egg laying hens due to their longer life span.  Animals raised for food are pumped with hormones and antibiotics to grow as fast as possible, so they generally don't live longer than 6 months.  Dairy cows are injected with these same hormones/antibiotics, and are artificially impregnated every year - and pump out 100 times more milk than is natural.  When they give birth, their babies are taken almost immediately, and the males become veal calves, the females dairy cows.  It is a vicious cycle of pain, misery and abuse.  Dairy is the worst offense to cows and their offspring there is.  They actually cry tears when they are separated.

I would suggest cutting back on something else - and not buying dairy or eggs.  The vegan cheeses are readily available - I live in Northern AZ and have Safeway, Bashes and New Frontiers and have never had a problem finding them.  It's just healthier, and more humane.

If you knew what went into milk/dairy, I promise you would not eat it any longer.  Here's a link to the expert on this subject:  http://www.notmilk.com/ - there are hundreds of sites out there that explain why dairy is the worst product you can eat - it's got as much saturated fat and cholesterol as a piece of prime rib.  Bad stuff, not to mention puss and blood from the bleeding udders of dairy cows who are continually milked by a machine and develop horrible ulcers and sores from this, which goes into the milk/dairy.  The USDA and FDA allow 10% puss and blood in the milk because it is impossible to eliminate it completely.  Sorry, but it's really bad.

Take care, good luck and it's easy to go vegan!  Pick up a cookbook (my favorite as of late is The Vegan Table) - you can make your own vegan cheese from tofu if you had the time.  

With love for the animals,
Tina Volpe