From just about birth, most of us are told that we have to drink our milk to grow big and strong. In children’s books we see happy cows being milked in big red barns by caring, overall-clad farmers. But what if we’ve been lied to this whole time?

If you’re ready to open your eyes and learn the uncomfortable truth about dairy, keep reading. Here are five myths we’ve been spoon-fed with our cereal and why they’re simply not true.

1. Calcium builds strong bones — especially in kids.

Nope. While cow’s milk does contain calcium, studies have shown that regular milk drinking can lead to brittle bones and…

From a young age, I loved animals. That’s why I became a vegetarian, and for so long, I thought I was doing all I could to help animals. It didn’t occur to me that cows suffered in the dairy industry. I was wrong. Dairy cows suffer horrendously. And they desperately need our help.

My name is Erin, and as an undercover investigator for Animal Outlook, I have seen firsthand how terribly dairy cows suffer. Before I went undercover at an industrial dairy farm, I did all I could to prepare myself. I watched footage from previous investigations and spoke with…

In 2018, I worked at Amick Farms, a chicken slaughter plant in Maryland that recently experienced an outbreak of COVID-19, which has resulted in the death of three employees so far. Like many others, I worked on the shackle line hanging live birds destined to have their throats slit. Unlike the others, I also wore a camera and collected undercover footage revealing the cruelty that happened at Amick Farms under the new USDA high-speed slaughter program — both to animals and to workers who are now being forced to stand in close quarters to perform their job duties during a…

It’s nearly Mother’s Day — a day to honor and celebrate mothers everywhere.

As a mom and an animal advocate, I can’t help but think of all the mother cows imprisoned in factory farms, forced to endure so much pain and suffering behind the closed doors of the dairy industry.

Their newborn calves ripped from their sides within days.

Their milk, meant to nourish their young, stolen from them.

These mothers must repeat this cruel cycle, ultimately slaughtered for meat long before their natural life spans should end. With your help, we can break this cycle of abuse.

The dairy…

Dear Friend,

When I was working at Martin Farms as an undercover investigator for Animal Outlook, witnessing gentle mother cows being beaten and abused, I told myself over and over: I can do this. I can bear witness; it will all be worth it in the end. It will all be worth it because their stories would be told to thousands of people, and the cruel, heinous acts they endured would be punished justly in a court of law.

I can’t accurately describe the amount of anger I felt when I saw the results of months of waiting for charges…

Last winter, I worked undercover at Martin Farms, a dairy factory farm in Pennsylvania. During my time there, through all the chaos, I connected with a kind and beautiful cow who was only known by her tag number: 714.

She was an adult cow, trapped in the cycle of being impregnated, giving birth, then having her baby taken away so her milk could be collected for humans to consume. She was treated like a mere milk-producing machine, enduring a lifetime of torture than I could sadly see in her eyes when we met.

I slowly reached out. She flinched at…

Scott David, Compassion Over Killing Investigations Associate

I’ve seen things behind the closed doors of the slaughterhouse that would make even the most daring eaters turn away from meat products. And yes: metal in meat is something slaughterhouses watch out for.

Taco Bell has been making headlines, but not for its new vegetarian-friendly menu. The enormous fast-food chain has instead issued a recall of 2.3 million pounds of seasoned beef because it was possibly contaminated with “extraneous materials, specifically metal shavings.”

As a former undercover investigator, I can attest to the fact that this isn’t actually that crazy a possibility…

The enormous dairy industry’s taking a hit as shoppers turn away from cow’s milk. So, in an alarming move, the industry is looking to classrooms to build its consumer base.

As popularity soars for non-dairy milks like almond, soy, and oat, sales of cow’s milk reportedly plummeted to the tune of $1 billion in 2018.

So it is concerning (but unsurprising) that the dairy industry is searching for a new market by entering classrooms in the form of an “Adopt a Cow” program in elementary schools, championed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania.

The “Adopt a Cow”…