Carnism

Fear and loathing in the UK dairy industry

Credit: PETA© Photabulous!

Dairy industry leaders raised alarm bells over the "threats to the global milk industry from the rise in veganism and animal welfare activism" at the Semex dairy conference in Glasgow this week.

â€œZero toleranceâ€ of the animal rights movement, was what Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) called for in her address .

"A-listers, boxers, rappers and musicians had â€œnormalisedâ€ veganism and made it exciting", were the words of warning from global giant Arlaâ€™s new UK managing director, Ash Amirahmadi.

â€œThe dangerous thing theyâ€™ve done is that theyâ€™ve cast doubt on our industry,â€ he said.

â€œTheyâ€™ve consistently put a question mark about the meat and dairy industries in consumersâ€™ minds, and theyâ€™re not going to stop because they really believe theyâ€™re on to something.â€

He further went on to warn the industry to be ready for the next wave of investigation, dairy farming's use of antibiotics.

â€œWe havenâ€™t yet been exposed on antibiotics and we could be â€“ it could be the next one coming down the line,â€ Mr Amirahmadi elaborated further.

"By 2021, the UK milk alternative sector is predicted to rise 43%" according to data released from Informa's Agribusiness Intelligence due to rising trends in veganism, and those just embracing plant-based foods. UK plant milk sales totalled $280 million in 2016 - and are expected to rise to $400 million by 2021.

By comparison, over the same period, dairy milk sales are predicted to see a rise of just 5.2 percent.

Informa says these industry changes have been inspired by concerns around 'health, animal welfare, and the environmental impact' of eating animal foods.