OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – Organic Valley milk is not produced through humane methods, a recently filed class action lawsuit says.
Attorneys at Schonbrun Seplow of San Diego joined with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to file suit July 19 in California’s Alameda County Superior Court, alleging calves are taken from their mothers within hours of their birth.
“These calves are then reared in isolation hutches, often in poor health without vital socialization and natural sustenance,” the suit says. “Male calves are quickly sold for eventual commercial slaughter, while female calves go on to give birth to calves who are immediately taken away from them.”
These practices are not humane, though the company labels its products as being made through “Humane Animal Practices,” the suit says. Customers choose the company’s products because of that promise, the suit says.
“Research shows these consumers are willing to pay more for milk from production systems that do not involve premature separation of cows and calves,” the suit says.
“Defendant and others in the industry know it would pose a risk to dairy sellers’ outsized profits if consumers learned the truth: that dairy products found in every grocery store—even many of those marketed as ‘humane’ and sold at premium prices like Defendant’s—are ruthless products of socially-deprived calves prematurely separated from their mothers.”