organic cheese humane?

2863 Views 17 Replies 14 Participants Last post by jenna, Jan 31, 2008

screechingninja

Discussion Starter · Jan 24, 2008

A lady at the health food store today told me that organic cheese, say on an all organic vegetarian pizza is humane, and you can know the animals have been humanely treated and it doesn't have the terrible hormones in it, is this true??? Where can I find any info on this?

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jeneticallymodified

· #2 · Jan 24, 2008

its humane if you belive that keeping a cow repeatedly pregnant or lactating is made humane by not giving them antibiotics, and maybe giving them access to more grass and nicer food. they're still living a life of slavery though, however nice the conditions.

Beachbnny

· #3 · Jan 24, 2008

From what I know, and I'm too tired to pull sources tonight but I will tomorrow, organic actually has nothing to do with how "humane" the animals are treated. It only has to do with what they are fed, and how they are treated medically- hormones etc. The label is not related whatsoever with treatment or conditions of the animals.

So no, organic does Not = humane. You can find information about this by hittin up google for organic standards and humane treatment or by doing a couple searches around here

HTH!

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Kevio

· #4 · Jan 24, 2008

http://www.wisebread.com/horizon-org...-all-just-lies

jenna

· #5 · Jan 24, 2008

The milk is supposed to go to the calves, not us. I don't find that humane.

Even if the cows are "humanely treated", what happens to the calves they produce? Sold as veal? Fed formula and then put in line to be impregnated over and over like their mothers?

jeneticallymodified

· #6 · Jan 24, 2008

i also wanted to add that if your concern is artificial hormones, i'm pretty sure that rBGH (artificial bovine growth hormone) isn't used in canadian dairies anyway, and that health canada didn't approve it. i'm pretty sure that there will still be regular levels of naturally occuring cow hormones (plus low levels of blood, pus and all the other nipple stuff) in the milk though, which would vary depending on whether or not an individual animal was pregnant or unwell while being milked.

eta: also, i wouldn't put a huge amount of stock in what health food store employees say either. i'm sure many of them are very nice, well meaning people, but most are still lay people, working with information from leaflets, co-workers, reps, and their own feelings on a subject- and not qualified, impartial, objective nutrition scientists.... and all have an interest in selling you something.

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Bof

· #7 · Jan 24, 2008

'There is no moral distinction that can be drawn between meat on one hand, and dairy, eggs, or other animal foods on the other. Animals used for dairy and eggs are treated horribly and end up in the same slaughterhouse as meat animals.' - Gary L. Francione

GoldCherry

· #8 · Jan 24, 2008

I watched a documentary a while back about the labelling of foods, and it stated that one thing in the production can be organic for the entire thing to be called "organic". Marketing is very weird and not exactly trust worthy like that. Regardless of that, the only difference would be that it's fed organic food instead of non-organic food; it wouldn't change the treatment in any other way, especially not the treatment of the cow's offspring.

rabid_child

· #9 · Jan 24, 2008

It has nothing to do with treatment. You can factory farm organic dairy.

AHIMSA

· #10 · Jan 24, 2008

No, organic cheese isn't "humane".

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabid_child

It has nothing to do with treatment. You can factory farm organic dairy.

Yeah, just ask Horizon!

Lucious

· #11 · Jan 24, 2008

The words "cheese" and "humane" in a sentence are a huge oxymoron.

Animal exploitation can never be humane, ever.

rabid_child

· #12 · Jan 24, 2008

Except in California... where the cows are happy. That's what TV tells me.

Pirate Ferret

· #13 · Jan 25, 2008

Organic milk is crueller than normal milk. The cows arent allowed antibiotics or any medication, but still get conditions that need them therefore just have to put up with it.

LGTC

· #14 · Jan 31, 2008

it depends. If it has rennet, technically it isn't vegetarian even but if it doesn't than i guess it is vegan. Look at the facts

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jenna

· #15 · Jan 31, 2008

Cheese is vegetarian, not vegan. Is that what you meant?

Abbey

· #16 · Jan 31, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenna

Cheese is vegetarian, not vegan. Is that what you meant?

I believe most cheese is not vegetarian unless it has vegetarian rennet (which it will say on the package). Regular rennet comes from the stomach lining of calves if I remember correctly, so it's technically not vegetarian. It isn't "meat", but it is part of the animal's body, so it shouldn't be considered vegetarian.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LGTC

it depends. If it has rennet, technically it isn't vegetarian even but if it doesn't than i guess it is vegan. Look at the facts

If cheese has vegetarian rennet, it still may have casein (milk protein), so it is vegetarian but not vegan.

kpickell

· #17 · Jan 31, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by LGTC

it depends. If it has rennet, technically it isn't vegetarian even but if it doesn't than i guess it is vegan*. Look at the facts

I think you meant "vegetarian" there, because no dairy cheese is ever vegan. But the poster was asking if it's cruelty-free, and the simple answer is "probably not" and especially not if it's being sold on grocery store shelves. "Organic" is definitely not a synonym for "humane" although that does seem to be a very big misconception!

jenna

· #18 · Jan 31, 2008

Yeah, that's the "vegan" part I was referring to. I should've quoted and bolded it.

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