A French dairy company that decided to compete with vegan milk companies by making its plant-based milk will now use one of its facilities in Ontario to make it exclusively — as opposed to sharing its facilities to make both animal and plant-based milk. Many vegans that consumed its plant-based milk may not have been aware that, up until the end of September, its plant-based milk was processed in the same facilities that cows’ milk was processed.
Lactalis Canada, a subsidiary of French dairy giant Lactalis, will cease all dairy production in its Sudbury branch from 30th September, so it can dedicate itself to producing plant-based milk only —which will reduce the risk of cross-contamination with animal products. But the company has made it clear that does not intend to stop exploiting cows, which means it will continue to be committed to increasing global heating by emitting great quantities of CO2 and methane, removing calves from their mothers, stealing millions of litres of milk from them, and selling high cholesterol animal products to its customers. Mark Taylor, president and CEO of Lactalis Canada, said “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.”
Animal milk consumption has been declining in Canada in recent years. In 2021, it hit 60.5 litres per capita, the lowest on record, which was a decrease of 10 litres per capita since 2015. In 2019, Canada updated its food guide so it no longer recommends a daily dose of dairy. All this has allowed vegan companies that produce plant-based milk to grow (especially oat milk), which of course has disrupted the dairy industry that is now trying to steal vegan customers from more ethical vegan brands by providing their own plant-based milk and making a lot of “veganwashing” publicity about how they make it.
