US$ 32 million investment is supposed to support the expansion of Alvoar Lácteos activity, a company exposed because of bad animal welfare practices in a recent investigation
For the press: you can find pictures and videos of the investigation to publish here.
[City — April 27, 2023] 15 organizations signed an open letter urging the World Bank Group’s private arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), to withhold a US$ 32 million investment to Brazilian dairy producer Alvoar Lácteos. An investigation published today at www.stoptheloan.com by international NGO Sinergia Animal revealed controversial practices against animals in the company’s milk supply chain, including possible illegal slaughter. The plea also raises several environmental and public health concerns.
25 IFC directors from across the globe are set to decide on the investment on April 30th. International organizations are urging the IFC to postpone the decision and look into the evidence collected in the investigation.
“Our investigation found that, at Alvoar's suppliers, calves are separated from their mothers soon after birth, males are starved for up to 18 hours and sent to slaughter within only hours or days of life. They admitted newborn calves are given to people who can kill them outside of legal slaughterhouses, which can constitute crimes of public health and animal cruelty under Brazilian legislation,”
explains Carolina Galvani, Sinergia Animal’s Executive Director.
“The ones that are slaughtered in a legal slaughterhouse might not be properly stunned and could be conscious and feeling pain, according to experts who assessed the footage,”
completes.
The video released by Sinergia Animal also reveals that cows get deep burns from a caustic paste used to prevent their horns from growing. Female calves are kept in cages so small that they can barely move and struggle to turn around.
“IFC would be funding one of the most polluting businesses in the whole food industry”
As Brazil’s fifth largest dairy producer, the supply chain of Alvoar Lácteos, owner of brands Embaré, Camponesa, and Betânia, consists of over 5,500 farms. IFC’s investment would support the company’s expansion program––which raises concerns about the environmental impacts of the decision. In addition to the blatant animal cruelty, dairy farms are one of the most polluting and resource thirsty of the food industry, being responsible for high rates of greenhouse gas emissions and water and land use.
“The IFC says they are committed to mitigating climate change, however they are considering funding one of the most polluting businesses in the whole food industry. Now it is time to urge them to be coherent and not fund these controversial operations,”
points out Galvani.
More information about the investigation’s findings and ways to contact the World Bank Group can be accessed at www.stoptheloan.com.