Raising Animal Welfare Standards Across Our Supply Chain

Updated December 2019

Last summer, we were devastated to see a video from Animal Recovery Mission showing acts of animal cruelty at Fair Oaks Farms, a supplier to our partners at fairlife. We care deeply about animal welfare, and these acts left everyone at Coca‑Cola with heavy hearts. Any form of animal cruelty is unacceptable and against our values. That’s why we took immediate action with fairlife to make this right.

• fairlife immediately stopped sourcing milk from Fair Oaks Farms. No milk from any Fair Oaks Farms location is being used in fairlife products.
• fairlife conducted independent audits at its supplying dairy farms using auditors from Food Safety Net Services Certification and Audit, LLC (FSNS C&A).  These audits concluded in July and did not find additional evidence of animal cruelty or abuse.
• The Coca‑Cola Company conducted its own independent, third-party audits of fairlife’s supplying dairy farms using auditors from Validus Verification services, who reported that they did not witness any acts of animal abuse at any of the locations.

Beyond audits, however, there is more to do to raise the bar on animal welfare. Other notable actions include:

• fairlife has assembled an animal welfare advisory council of experts in veterinary health sciences, animal well-being, workforce improvement, ethical farming practices, and on-farm innovation to guide continuous improvement efforts. This group reports directly to the fairlife CEO and will continue to support the development of the brand’s animal welfare protocols.  You can read more about this group and fairlife’s standards for animal care at https://fairlife.com/what-we-believe/care-for-animals/.
• The Coca‑Cola Company has established a global dairy technical advisory committee to advise on animal welfare issues and assure continuous improvement. This council includes experts who are working to guide policy improvements in alignment with science-based standards from leading animal welfare, dairy, agricultural and quality organizations.

We believe the high standards fairlife and its animal welfare advisory council are implementing are an important next step in enabling high animal welfare standards across our global business. With the support of our own Global Dairy Technical Advisory Committee, we are drafting a global framework for animal health and welfare that will be part of our global sustainable agricultural guiding principles in the future.

Animal welfare remains a top priority for our business, and we will continue listening, learning and sharing our progress.