Couto said he believes that there is a growing trend of people turning away from dairy and seeking out alternatives like soy milk due to videos like the ones ARM posted about Fair Oaks Farm. This ARM video shines a light on an area that despite our thorough training, employee on-boarding procedures and overall commitment to animal welfare needs improvement. The farm, which still has a 4.5-star rating on TripAdvisor, welcomes about 500,000 visitors annually. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Charges have been filed by the Newton County Indiana Sheriff's office for alleged animal cruelty at Fair Oaks Farms. Although he underwent another training session in animal care when we discovered there was an undercover ARM operation on our farm, after viewing the extent of his animal abuse, he is being terminated today. As we shared last week, we are taking immediate actions to ensure our high standards of animal welfare are being executed at each of our supplying farms.". Cut ties with the supplier? FAIR OAKS, Ind. Several companies bought big into the once-promising segment, but the governmentsdecision not to permit the ingredient in food and beverages has left producers unwilling to invest further. Temperature readings show it was more than 100 degrees inside their hutches. Miami-based animal welfare group Animal Recovery Mission released another video documenting animal abuse at Fair Oaks Farms. Fair Oaks Farms is a museum, restaurant, gift shop and hotel built around a working dairy farm. "In 2019, when our farmers reported this behavior, we immediately terminated and turned these individuals into the proper authorities to prosecute," the company said in the statement. In the initial statement issued Tuesday on social media, Fair Oaks founder Mike McCloskey said four of the people shown committing alleged abuses were Fair Oaks Farms employees and each had been or were being fired. Fairlifes website states that after ARM exposed Fairlifes 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. @CocaCola needs to end this partnership & @fairlife needs to take action on there workers and this situation. #boycottfairlife. The most-read stories on NWI.com during the past week. Fairlife has advertised itself as being high-nutrition, ethically sourced milk, with labels stating that exceptional care was taken "every step of the way," from milking the cows to bottling the final product. People are starting to do their own homework on this. Founded in 2012, the ultra-filtered dairy brand announced earlier this year it surpassed $1 billion in annual retail sales. Family Express, the Valparaiso-based chain of convenience stores and gas stations, was named the best convenience store in the state of Indiana. Warning: the video is very disturbing. The company cited Fair Oaks Farms' actions in light of the ARM investigation as well, saying Fair Oaks Farms has commissioned an independent auditor to audit practices at the farm and has also committed to conduct independent, random audits. However, the spokesperson said the USDA is aware of the video and allegations of animal cruelty must be taken seriously. A University of Oxford study found that on average, cows milk produces about three times as many greenhouse gas emissions than vegan milks. The fourth was fired Tuesday, according to Fair Oaks Farms. 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. Fairlife said it hasimmediately suspend deliveries and will provide more animal welfare training for employees. Farmers and ranchers . A full investigation of all aspects of the video is underway, during and after which disciplinary action will be taken, including termination and criminal prosecution, of any and all employees and managers who have violated either our animal care practices or the law or both. Provided. As a matter of routine and practice, Fairlifes cows are tortured, kicked, stomped on, body slammed, stabbed with steel rebar, thrown off the side of trucks, dragged through the dirt by their ears and left to die unattended in over 100-degree heat. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. The company's response to the first video as well as multiple grocers' quick removal of Fairlife products has signaled a change in public reaction where animals bred for dairy or even meat are concerned. There's also a virtual reality lab showing how the farm recycles manure to power its machinery. You can cancel at any time. But now, nearly three years later, consumers are wondering how Fairlife treats cows in the wake of the scandal, and if Fairlife still abuses cows in 2021. As a result, cows today produce up to 7 times more milk than their predecessors. Our focus remains on looking forward and making progress in the actions weve outline to enhance training and education for our employees, and ensuring the highest standards of care and welfare for our animals. The statement that we grow and sell drugs on our farms is false. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege that these qualities justified premium prices for the product, which they said they bought the products solely because of the guarantee for "extraordinary animal care. NEWTON COUNTY One of the three men accused of abusing animals at Fair Oaks Farms is in federal immigration custody, according to police. Cathy Siegner Of the four who were our employees, three had already been terminated prior to us being made aware months ago of the undercover ARM operation, as they were identified by their co-workers as being abusive of our animals and reported to management. "This is hardly the response you would expect from an organization that gets it. They must also sign the Dairy Cattle Care Ethics Agreement on an annual basis. First published on June 7, 2019 / 12:36 PM. Coca-Cola, which initially owned a minority position in the Fairlife brand through a joint venture with Select Milk Producers,acquired the remaining stakein 2020. Below is McCloskey's full statement for Fair Oaks Farms: This morning I was made aware of an animal abuse video that the group Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) produced and has released to the public and the press. People all over the world were horrified to see evidence of such unnecessary abuse at the farm. In response to the video, local grocery store chain Jewel-Osco said it was removing all Fairlife products that come from Fair Oaks Farms from its stores. Cuoto said, "The answer is no for me. McCloskey, a retired veterinarian, and his wife Sue often used the word symbiotic to describe their relationship to their cows (which they referred to as their girls). 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Fairlife's 2021 stewardship report said it spent more than $8 million on supporting animal welfare standards at its suppliers and exploring new methods and technologies to improve animal care.. Not to mention, the treatment of cows described by ARMs investigator is, unfortunately, standard practice across the dairy industry. We didn't spur it on but we are glad it happened. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. 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.. You can read more about the audits that Fairlife pledged to take on the brands website; however, the brand did claim to already have governance measures in place before the investigation, so many customers may find it difficult to trust these new procedures. Fairlife was launched in 2012 as a partnership between Coca-Cola, which distributes its products, and the Select Milk Producers, a co-op of dairy farms that includes Fair Oaks. On June 12, 2019, ARM released a cut of the investigators footage documenting cruelty on the dairy farm, which was taken with a hidden body camera. Of the five, four were our employees and one was a 3rd party truck driver who was picking up calves. The plants featured in the video are an invasive perennial species that is rampant on farms all over the midwest. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Fairlife, which is owned by Coca-Cola, quickly cut ties with the dairy farm after the video first went viral. "The response is similar to when we first published the footage on a smaller scale, with the outrage in general. Shot in 2018 by an undercover activist group investigator at Fair Oaks Farms, then the massive flagship dairy of Fairlife, the four-minute video depicts workers throwing, dragging, kicking and hitting newborn calves. Its not the farm, its the industry, Couto said. The above suit has been transferred to the U.S. Northern District of Illinois courts and the case is ongoing. Gardozo-Vasquez - one of three former Fair Oaks Farms workers charged in connection to scenes of abuse that set off national protests and boycotts of Indiana's largest dairy - had also been. As the two months went on, the undercover activist continually observed employees punching, hitting, poking, and shoving cows; he saw them snapping cows tails; and he watched them push, kick, and slap cows in their udders. The farm, which promotes itself as an agritourism destination for families and school groups, has documented steps it has taken to improve animal treatment since the video was released. He said some people have recently reached out to him asking if they can feel better about purchasing products from the company since the announcement from McCloskey about changes instated for animal welfare. Sour Milk. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. If you were horrified by the actions taken at Fair Oaks Farms, youd probably be horrified if you peaked behind the curtain at any industrial dairy farm or slaughterhouse. "Isolated incidents such as this are not indicative of how our countrys dairy farm families operate.". The undercover video shows various forms of abuse against the calves. There is also footage of calves left in. Still, a 2021 report from the World Animal Protection and Compassion in World Farming found many food companies are not doing enough to prioritize animal welfare. June 7, 2019 / 12:36 PM "I learned about it yesterday," said Richard Couto,Animal Recovery Mission founder. In June 2019, undercover footage of appalling animal abuse at a dairy farm that supplied milk to Fairlife went viral, prompting many customers to boycott the ultrafiltered milk company that had claimed to care about animal welfare. Regardless, I am disgusted by and take full responsibility for the actions seen in the footage, as it goes against everything that we stand for in regards to responsible cow care and comfort. Ensuring that the animals who provide fairlife dairy products are cared for and cared about is a top priority for fairlife, reads Fairlifes website, while Fair Oaks Farms claims to be "committed to caring for our animals.". Fair Oaks Farms is the flagship farm for Fairlife, a national brand of higher protein, higher calcium and lower fat milk that's produced at a network of dairy farms and distributed by Coca-Cola. When animals fall within our authorities, USDA acts to prevent animal cruelty such as this. The truck driver, who was responsible for picking up the calves, will not be allowed on Fair Oaks Farms again. Green Matters is a registered trademark. Soon after the footage came out, many consumers vowed to boycott Fairlife, and buy milk from otherdairy brands instead. The form however, doesn't specifically define what constitutes abuse. In a public statement in 2019,Fair Oaks Farms Chairman Mike McCloskeyacknowledged that four of the people shown committing alleged abuses were Fair Oaks Farms employees, and one person was a third-party truck driver who was transporting calves. Its signature product is a form of ultrafiltered milk that has more protein and less sugar than traditional milk. The organization put out a few calls to action to people who were affected by the heartbreaking footage ARM asked people to sign its petition, to ask stores to stop carrying Fairlife, and to leave dairy products off their plates. So, in this instance our policy of cow care training "see something, say something" worked. Fairlife milk products are available nationwide. But unless a farm is certified organic meaning that farmers must abide by strict legal standards when it comes to the care, breeding and feeding of animals it can be difficult to determine exactly how animals are treated on any property. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). But unlike the retailers, it plans to stick with Fairlife. Couto's Miami-based Animal Recovery Mission released video last week showing calves at Fair Oaks being thrown into their huts, hit and kicked in the head, dragged by the ears and burned with . "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. Coca-Cola said in a statement that it takes animal welfare seriously and expects "suppliers to operate with the highest degree of integrity and comply with all laws, including animal welfare laws." 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. That case is ongoing. From February through April of 2019, an Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) activist got an undercover job milking cows at Fair Oaks Farms, which supplies milk to dairy companies including Fairlife (which is owned by the Coca-Cola Company, and provides milk to Chick-fil-A). But that doesn't mean that all farming operations are large-scale operations like Fair Oaks Farms, which has 37,000 cows and is the largest dairy farm in the state of Indiana. According to the USDA, cows raised on organic farms may not be given growth hormones of any type. In the late 1990s, three dairy producers sat in the cab of a pickup contemplating the future of their farms. Topics covered: manufacturing, packaging, new products, R&D, and much more. Copyright 2023 Green Matters. None of Fairlife's farms are certified organic but shortly after the company (which was founded by a veterinarian) was formed in partnership with the Coca-Cola Company in 2012, it frequently advertised itself as spoiling its cows and adhering to a higher standard of animal care through sustainable farming practices. The animal abuse at Fair Oaks Farms would not be the only potential wrongdoing eligible for action by Newton County prosecutors if a proposal , State leaders so far are staying mum following the release of undercover videos showing animal abuse committed by former Fair Oaks Farms emplo, CROWN POINT Charges filed Tuesday allege a Gary woman dragged a 5-year-old girl by the arm away from a playground and pushed the child to th. In the wake of the first video being released, retailers including Jewel-Osco, Tonys Fresh Market, Casey's and Family Express have stopped selling Fairlife products. The abuse in the dairy industry is systematic., Chicago-area grocers pulled Fairlife from their shelves, A defensive stalwart, Oswego Easts Tyler Jasek surprises Joliet West. As a veterinarian whose life and work is dedicated to the care, comfort and safety of all animals, this has affected me deeply. An undercover video provided by Animal Recovery Mission shows workers allegedly abusing animals at Fair Oaks Farms in Newton County. The result is a milk with more protein and calcium, and less fat and sugar, than conventional milk. It's well-know that a suspected animal-abuse video was released by an activist group known as Animal Recovery Mission about the dairy operation at Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana. The animals depicted in this video do not fall within our authority.. Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions. But this behavior was all observed nearly three years ago so is it still happening? Members worked as employees while wearing a hidden camera. "They recognize the seriousness of this situation as their founding principles are grounded in a strong commitment to sustainability, transparency and the highest standards of animal welfare. 219-933-4194, anna.ortiz@nwi.com. He said on Friday, ARM will release another video he described as an hour and a half of consistent abuse.. 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.. Further cases of animal abuse could provide momentum for animal-free offerings created by precision fermentation. And when mother cows can no longer lactate, they are of no value to farms so the only financially viable solution is to send them to slaughter. While the review came back favorable, I am not letting my guard down and will institute more thorough monitoring and training so that this abuse can never happen again. Because of these laws, there is no way to know for sure what is going on at Fairlifes farms. 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, Fairs Oaks said in an emailed statement Thursday. FAIR OAKS The Newton County Sheriff's Department has requested the names of former Fair Oaks Farms employees shown abusing young calves inavideo released by an animal rights organizationTuesday, according to a department news release. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, UPDATE: Death of Winfield woman ruled a homicide, coroner says, 2 Illinois men each sentenced to over 90 years for killing of Portage High School student, UPDATE: Parents discovered battered, deceased Winfield woman; remembered as 'amazing' nurse, KFC is bringing back a fan favorite after a nearly 10-year hiatus, Crown Point schools release redistricting maps, 1 million-square-foot, 'once-in-a-lifetime building' walls erected in new business park, Passed-out motorist found with lit marijuana cigarette, Portage police say, Lake County investigators on scene of death investigation in Winfield, sheriff says, UPDATE: Lake Station police investigating possible homicide; suspect in custody, chief says, Man found dead from gunshot wound in Munster parking lot, coroner says, Kouts nurse practitioner found guilty of dodging federal payroll taxes, Lake Station man charged with murder in connection with deadly shooting, Riverfront district moves forward in St. John. In addition to the state's laws, the board refers to FARM when it comes to industry standards for handling and care. Fair Oaks Farms is the largest dairy farm in Indiana with 37,000 cows, TODAY reported. Couto supported the renewed calls for boycotting Fairlife, but said his target is much bigger the dairy industry at large. Fairlife has admitted that the calves seen in the undercover footage taken at Fair Oaks Farms were mistreated. "At Jewel-Osco we strive to maintain high animal welfare standards across all areas of business, and work in partnership with our vendors to ensure those standards are upheld," the company stated in a news release Wednesday. He also observed that immediately after giving birth, mother cows were separated from their newborn calves, who were placed into confined sheds, while the mothers were sent right back to the milking rotary, sometimes with their placentas still hanging out of their bodies. Our world revolves around making sure that our cows are fed well, treated humanely and live in comfortable, stress-free conditions.. In addition, Fairlife said they are immediately suspending milk deliveries from the dairy identified in the video. 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