Australia’s peak national nutrition education body have been treated to a tour of dairy facilities in South West Victoria.
The tour, made up of 14 nutritionists from Nutrition Australia, visited several farms and facilities including several dairies, a robotic milking facility and lunch at a cheese factory.
Nutrition Australia (NA) is a non-government, non-profit, community-based organisation who have been a long-term industry partner of Dairy Industry. The day was orchestrated so that NA could be “equipped to educate the public holistically about food, nutrition and sustainable agriculture.”
Lucinda Hancock, Chief Executive Officer of Nutrition Australia, concedes: “Educating the public about the health and nutrition benefits of consuming dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yoghurt as part of a balanced diet has always been a focus of Nutrition Australia.”
And is it surprising considering the funding? The familiar ‘Healthy Eating Pyramid’ found in schools is made possible with financial assistance from Dairy Australia (DA). Further support for the pyramid was also received from the Egg Nutrition Council and the Meat and Livestock Association. Not surprisingly, all industries feature in the final product.
Corruption?
These associations throw further light on the ethics of food companies sponsoring ‘independent’ nutritional information. This follows previous revelations that nutritional bodies such as the Dietitians Association of Australia are heavily sponsored by companies such as Nestle, Unilever, Campbell’s and Arnott’s. In the US, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Kelloggs, Unilever and SoyJoy are the major partners of the American Dietetics Association.
To answer the question, is the “Dietitians Association of Australia in the pocket of Big Food?”, Michelle Simon, president of Eat Drink Politics, a corporate watchdog consulting firm in the US, has released an Australian edition of “And Now A Word From Our Sponsors”, detailing close links between the food industry and DAA.
So close is the association between NA and DA that the industry has been known to write their nutritional information for them.
Despite the close relationship, Nutrition Australia do not feature in Dairy Australia’s 2018/19 Annual Report and it can only be speculated if other nutritional bodies and influential organizations are treated to similar “days out”.
Animal Welfare Issues
It is not yet known if the delegation from Nutrition Australia was exposed to the less glamorous side of dairy farming, such as painful de-horning, tail docking and mastitis. The treatment most hidden from the public is that of ‘bobby calves’. According to the RSPCA, the term ‘bobby calves’ refers to newborn calves that are less than 30 days old and not with their mothers. Essentially, they are surplus to dairy industry requirements as they are not required for the milking herd.
Males in particular, not being able to produce milk can meet a grisly fate. 450,000 are killed a year, in Australia alone, simply because they are not profitable. They can legally be killed on the farm using a captive bolt device or blunt force trauma. A sledge-hammer is an example of legal ‘blunt-force’.
Graphic footage of such actions have been filmed around Australia, including Tasmania, and also in the UK.
National milk production decreased by 5.7% in 2019, which may explain why the industry is keen to shore up what information is released.
