Dive Brief:
- Undercover investigators for the activist group Mercy for Animals released a video made with hidden cameras that show horrific abuse of dairy cows at a facility that supplies Nestle's DiGiorno pizza brand.
- The abuse captured on the video is so graphic and disturbing that a number of media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, have declined to post it on their sites.
- The abuse took place at Wiese Brothers Farm outside Green Bay, Wisc. Wiese Brothers is part of the Foremost Farms collective that supplies DiGiorno.
Dive Insight:
There seems to be no end in sight to this problem. Every week or so Mercy for Animals or PETA or some other group releases a video that shows shocking levels of cruelty within the food industry. The DiGiorno scandal comes just hours after Tyson announced it would require third-party audits of its suppliers following the release of a video showing the abuse of hogs.
We applaud Tyson's efforts. Just as we applaud Nestle for cutting ties with the abusers in the most recent video. But our sense is that food industry continues to stumble as it navigates this area. Consumers are outraged. Ranchers and farmers are feeling defensive and misunderstood. And now Rolling Stone has published an investigative article on efforts by the food industry to stop the filming of abuse rather than the abuse itself.