B.C. milk board to destroy milk from farm accused of cattle abuse

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Milk Marketing Board says it will destroy milk from a farm where staff were captured on video allegedly beating cattle.

The province’s SPCA has recommended charges against eight former employees of Chilliwack Cattle Sales, who were fired after the group Mercy for Animals Canada made the video public.

The marketing board says processors have requested not to receive milk from the farm until additional audits are finished, and due to that lack of demand, milk from the company must be destroyed.

The announcement comes a day after dairy food giant Saputo Inc. (TSX:SAP) announced it would no longer be accepting deliveries from Chilliwack Cattle Sales.

The board initially suspended milk pickup from the farm but that resumed this week after the board said it was satisfied that animal welfare issues were being addressed.

Charges have not yet been laid and the allegations have not been proven in court.