10 Shocking Truths About Cottage Cheese
Have you ever wondered where cottage cheese comes from? Next time you see it in a grocery store, leave it on the shelf. The production of cottage cheese causes a lifetime of suffering for calves and their mothers and destroys the British countryside and our planet, and eating it puts your health at risk. Here’s everything you need to know about cottage cheese. Read to the end to learn what to eat instead.
Cottage Cheese: 10 Things You Need to Know
Mammary Secretions Are Sometimes Mixed With Calves’ Stomach Linings
Let’s start by explaining what cottage cheese really is: the coagulated mammary secretions of cows who were forcibly impregnated and whose babies were taken away from them. Sometimes, it’s mixed with rennet, an enzyme found in calves’ stomach linings that is used to congeal milk into a lumpy, yellow mixture of curds and whey. Rennet often comes from male calves slaughtered for veal at only 18 to 20 weeks old. But even if there’s no rennet in the cottage cheese you buy, this product still causes calves and their mothers to suffer immensely. Read on to find out why.
Andrew Skowron / We Animals Media
Cottage Cheese Tears Families Apart
Cows produce milk for their babies, who they would naturally nurse for up to a year. But on dairy farms, calves are usually taken away from their mothers within 24 hours, causing grief and anguish to both. Mother cows often bellow frantically for their young for several days after the abrupt separation. They may never see each other again.
Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality / We Animals Media
Cows’ Reproductive Systems Are Abused
Like humans and all other mammals, cows need to have recently been pregnant to produce milk. To ensure they’re constantly lactating, cows are artificially inseminated against their will. To impregnate a cow, a farmer jams an arm into the animal’s rectum – all the way up to the elbow – and shoves a syringe into her vagina. This is standard practice on dairy farms, done so that humans can steal cows’ milk and turn it into cottage cheese and other dairy foods.
Andrew Skowron / We Animals Media
Calves Are Killed
Female calves will follow in their mothers’ footsteps by being forced into an endless cycle of abuse. Male calves are considered useless to the dairy industry and may be shot in the head soon after birth or sentenced to a short, miserable life before being killed and carved up for veal. Even if you don’t eat meat, when you buy cottage cheese or other dairy foods, you sentence calves to death.
Cows Are Killed for Cottage Cheese
When cows are worn out and can no longer produce high volumes of milk, they’re sent to the abattoir and killed. Every time you buy cottage cheese, you pay for mother cows to be slaughtered. A cow’s natural life expectancy is around 20 to 25 years, but in the dairy industry, most are killed when they’re only 5 years old.
It Contains Pus
A British cow today is forced to produce 4.5 times more milk than she would need to feed her calf. As a result, cows frequently suffer from painful udder inflammation known as mastitis. The pus and bacteria from infected udders end up mixed in with the dairy milk, cottage cheese, butter, yogurt, and ice cream sold in stores.
Andrew Skowron / We Animals Media
Cottage Cheese Production Contributes to the Climate Catastrophe
Animal agriculture is fuelling the climate catastrophe, and dairy farms are some of the worst offenders. Because of their massive greenhouse gas emissions and the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of slurry they produce, dairy farms take a massive toll on the British countryside and the environment as a whole. Each cow raised by the dairy industry also consumes up to 150 litres of water per day. If you care about the planet, never buy cottage cheese or anything else made from cows’ milk.
Cottage Cheese Is Bad for Your Health
Cows’ milk is suited to calves’ nutritional needs, not yours. You don’t have four stomachs, and you don’t need to gain hundreds of pounds in a matter of months. Your body is simply not designed to consume it. A UK study showed that people who suffered from irregular heartbeats, asthma, headaches, fatigue, and digestive problems “showed marked and often complete improvements in their health after cutting milk from their diets”.
Studies have also shown an increased risk of breast cancer in women and poor fertility in men who regularly consume dairy foods. In two Harvard University studies, dairy consumption was linked to a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer. Moreover, cows’ milk is one of the primary causes of food allergies among children.
All dairy contains cholesterol and saturated fat and is linked to a higher risk of heart disease. But we have good news: there’s no cholesterol in plants! If you want to stay healthy, avoid cottage cheese and other foods made from cows’ milk.
Eating Cottage Cheese Is Weird
Think about it for a moment: isn’t it absurd for any human to guzzle the mammary secretions of a cow, which are meant for feeding her baby? Humans are the only species that drinks milk after the age of weaning and from another species. It’s weird and wrong, and there is no need to do it. It’s time we grew up.
Vegan Cottage Cheese Is a Kinder and Healthier Option
Want the taste of cottage cheese without the pus and cruelty? No problem. Popular vegan brand Julienne Bruno produces an excellent vegan cottage cheese called Superstraccia – with no artificial insemination required. And if you want to make your own, you can mix firm tofu with your favourite plant-based yoghurt. For extra creaminess, we recommend trying some delicious soya or coconut yoghurt, which are often fortified with vitamins, iron, and zinc. Packed with protein and with zero cholesterol, vegan cottage cheese is kinder to animals and your body.
Say No to Dairy Cottage Cheese
Cows deserve better. They are sensitive animals who can feel joy, pain, and fear, just like humans, and mother cows are devoted to their young. Don’t contribute to their misery – never buy cottage cheese or anything else made of cows’ milk.
