A Meat and Dairy Article from All-Creatures.org




Canadian Dairy Milk Processing Facility Goes Plant-Based

From AnimalJustice.ca
August 2022

An international dairy company is converting its Sudbury dairy milk factory into a modern plant-based milk production facility. The move comes after the company admitted that dairy milk is becoming a big money loser.... Whether organic or conventional, dairy farms operate in almost total secrecy, with almost no regulations governing animal welfare, and with no proactive government welfare inspections.


A Lactalis Canada plant, Astro Original located in Greater Sudbury, will be refurbished to produce plant-based dairy alternatives. (Sudbury, Ont., milk processing plant to switch to plant-based alternatives)

While our core business is dairy, as an innovation leader and as demonstrated by our forthcoming expansion into plant-based, we are constantly following the consumer and continually seeking opportunities to innovate and respond to the market," said Lactalis Canada president and CEO Mark Taylor, in a news release.

An international dairy company has decided to convert its Sudbury, Ontario dairy milk processing facility into a modern, dedicated plant-based milk production facility.

The move comes after the company admitted that dairy milk is becoming a money-loser in Ontario. “This is the result of long-term volume decline and increased costs in the fluid milk market in Ontario that have led to decreased profitability and economic sustainability of Lactalis Canada’s fluid operations in Sudbury,” it wrote in a press release.

The union head representing facility workers told local media that the changes will be great news and that the switch to plant-based alternatives could mean longterm growth for the community.

As Canadians learn about the horrors of the dairy industry, and as they realize that there are almost no regulations governing animal welfare on farms, consumers are increasingly leaving milk, cheese and yogurt off of their shopping lists.

Last year, Animal Justice released shocking video footage exposing a pattern of abuse and cruelty at a Canadian organic dairy farm. There’s a common misperception that organic dairy farms offer a better life for animals, but, as the footage reveals, conditions on organic farms can still be just as miserable.

Watch on Vimeo.com: Cows Beaten at Organic Dairy Farm in BC Shocking new footage release by Animal Justice shows heart-wrenching animal abuse at Cedar Valley Farms, an organic dairy farm in Abbotsford, BC. The disturbing video footage was sent to Animal Justice anonymously. It shows workers violently beating cows with canes and wrenches, newborn calves ripped away from their mothers, cows painfully limping and apparently emaciated, cows dragged by heavy machinery, and botched euthanasia—with cows shot in the head repeatedly, dying slowly over the course of many minutes.

Whether organic or conventional, dairy farms operate in almost total secrecy, with almost no regulations governing animal welfare, and with no proactive government welfare inspections. Even standard practices on dairy farms subject gentle cows to heartbreaking suffering, including forcibly impregnating mother cows so they will produce milk, taking their babies away right after birth so their milk can be sold, and breeding cows to produce unnatural levels of milk, which puts enormous strain on their bodies. Once their milk production declines after just a few years, mother cows are slaughtered at a fraction of their natural age.

Canadians are also opting for plant-based milks for health reasons. Changes to the Canada Food Guide included the complete removal of a separate dairy category. Instead, the new guide suggests people consume more plant-based protein foods and states that water is the optimal beverage.


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