Help Get Cow and Buffalo Milk Labelled 'Non-Vegetarian'

Hundreds of millions of Indians are vegetarian, and many choose to be for ethical and health reasons. That is why our country has a clear food-labelling system of green and brown dots to help shoppers quickly differentiate items according to their ingredients. However, ethical vegetarians are being duped by green dots appearing on animal milk and other dairy "products" because dairy production involves cruelty to animals and supports slaughter.

In India, cattle aren't raised exclusively for beef. And since working bulls are increasingly being replaced by machinery, the massive Indian beef industry largely exists because the dairy industry supplies it with animals.
To make matters worse, the dairy industry depends on systematically inhumane operations. Farmers repeatedly hold down, rape, and impregnate cows and buffaloes, who have no choice but to endure the trauma of artificial insemination. Dairy farmers also commonly inject cattle with oxytocin to force them to produce more milk, causing pain similar to labour in the animals. Shortly after the mother cows and buffaloes give birth, farmers typically snatch baby calves away from them. If the babies are female, they're often put on a milk replacer and will inherit their mother's misery of being treated like milk machines. If calves are male, a dairy farm will typically abandon them, leave them to starve, or sell them for beef.

Exploiting cows and buffaloes for their milk doesn't just hurt animals, as animal milk and dairy "products" are bad for human health, too. In fact, three out of four Indians cannot properly digest milk, resulting in bloating, gas, cramps, vomiting, or other symptoms. Those who can digest milk after infancy are able to do so only because of a genetic mutation.

And of course, dairy milk, like eggs, is derived from animals, not plants. Plant foods do not contain cholesterol, since plants lack a liver to produce it with. In contrast, all foods that come from animals – including meat, eggs, and milk – contain cholesterol, the consumption of which has been linked to the development of heart disease.

View Message +

Mr

Arun

Singhal

Food Safety Standards Authority of India

Dear Official,

Currently, animal milk and dairy "products" are considered "vegetarian" under the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011 , but in reality, these items are not vegetarian, as foods that contribute to cruelty to animals and slaughter can never be.

In India, cattle are not raised exclusively for beef. The massive Indian beef industry largely exists because the dairy industry supplies it with animals.

To make matters worse, the dairy industry depends on systematically inhumane operations. Farmers repeatedly hold down, rape , and impregnate cows and buffaloes, who have no choice but to endure the trauma of artificial insemination. Dairy farmers also commonly inject cattle with oxytocin to force them to produce more milk, causing pain similar to labour in the animals. Shortly after the mother cows and buffaloes give birth, farmers typically snatch baby calves away from them. If the babies are female, they're often put on a milk replacer and will inherit their mother's misery of being treated like milk machines. If calves are male, the dairy farm will typically abandon them, leave them to starve, or sell them for beef.

And of course, dairy milk, like eggs, is derived from animals, not plants. Plant foods do not contain cholesterol since plants lack a liver to produce it with. In contrast, all foods that come from animals – including meat, eggs, and milk – contain cholesterol, the consumption of which has been linked to the development of heart disease .

It's also important to mark animal milk and dairy "products" with brown dots because three out of four Indians cannot properly digest milk, resulting in bloating, gas, cramps, vomiting, or other symptoms. Those who can digest milk after infancy are able to do so only because of a genetic mutation .

For these reasons, I urge you to require the labelling of animal milk and dairy "products" as "non-vegetarian" with brown dots.

You can help by urging the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to label animal milk and dairy "products" with brown, not green, dots.

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