My Wild Irish Whey
by Jeff Brams
REFUEL
For years , I ’ ve wanted to expand our protein offerings to include animal-based proteins , but I couldn ’ t find sources with enough integrity and traceability . No animal protein supply chain has ever been robust enough to fill all of Garden of Life ’ s demands , and clean enough to meet our standards , like verification by the Non-GMO Project , proven sustainable farming practices including low carbon emissions , audited humane animal welfare practices , and ultimately , testing that could hold up during certification by both NSF for Sport and Informed-Choice .
We set a high bar with our vegan proteins and it was clear that we ’ d have to start from scratch by building the supply chain at the farm-level . This was going to take years to achieve .
Taking The First Step
We weren ’ t experts in animal farming and we knew we ’ d have to find a partner who was . We also needed a partner who was as passionate , mission-driven and as obsessively dedicated to integrity and visibility at every level of the supply chain as we were .
A few years back , I started to work with the Irish dairy experts at Glanbia . In this team , we found a partner with unparalleled expertise . What surprised me more was how they equaled us in their passion and commitment to integrity and transparency . They knew the extraordinary level of dedication it would take to build this supply chain the right way , and they ran to the challenge .
Recently when I landed in Ireland to visit our farms , we ' d just received Non-GMO Project Verification and were ready to complete the first of-its-kind " Truly Grass Fed " Certification . Our breakthrough moment had arrived .
Why " Truly " Grass Fed ?
When I began this journey , I was offered lots of “ grass fed ” whey from various suppliers . But when I started to dig into what that term meant and whether the name would hold up to our rigorous standards , I was amazed to learn that in almost every dairy production system throughout the world , “ grass-fed ” cows were given significant quantities of animal feed year round .
Why ? The answer ( and the problem ) lay in the corporate drive for profits and efficiencies . There were simply too many cows grazing on too few acres to support a year-round diet of grass . To really eat a diet of grass , a single cow needs roughly an acre or more of pasture .
Disappointing " Grass Fed " Production
But the dairy production I was looking at , claiming to be grass fed , would typically have 10 times what was sustainable . The result was that cows were exposed to pasture , and could eat some grass some of the time — not what I would call “ grass-fed ” cows .
The feed that these cows are typically given is unacceptable for Garden of Life and our consumers . I ’ d commonly see grain-based feeds with soy and corn meal , full of genetically modified material . What ’ s worse , the most common feed source is palm kernels . Palm kernel / oil harvesting is a worldwide issue . I had real concerns over the whey itself , too . It was being heavily processed with high-heat peroxide and turbulent machines which denature protein .
Garden of Life Had To Do It Differently
If Garden of Life was ever going to launch an animal protein , the entire system had to be different . We needed a holistic approach to our protein that started at the farm and traced every metric straight through to the tub .
Irish Dairy Farming & Glanbia
And that ’ s exactly what “ Truly Grass Fed ” Certified Whey is . To understand how we did it , it ’ s important to know a little bit about Irish dairy farming and Glanbia . Although Glanbia was formed almost 60 years ago , their history goes back into the long heritage of dairy farming in Ireland . Farms are privately owned and passed down from one generation to the next and , in many cases , are in their fourth or fifth generation . The system is designed by a people , and for a people , for whom dairy farming runs in their blood . For decades , the EU has limited the amount of milk Irish farmers could produce . The cap serves two purposes in that it maintained the steady value of the milk supply , but it also provided an incentive and reward for small farmers to treat their herds well . In short , Irish farmers are not financially incentivized to use what could be considered morally corrupt animal welfare practices employed in other regions .