Mercy For Animals activists descended on Leprino Foods’
headquarters in Denver today carrying more than 220,000 petition signatures
calling for important animal welfare policy changes after hidden-camera video exposed workers
at a Leprino dairy supplier viciously kicking and beating animals with metal
chains, stabbing them with screwdrivers, and repeatedly shocking injured cows
in the genitals.

Mercy For Animals and concerned consumers from around the
world are calling on Leprino Foods to immediately adopt meaningful animal
welfare guidelines, including
zero tolerance for kicking, punching, and shocking cows; prohibition of painful
and unnecessary mutilations of animals; provision of a safe, clean, and
sanitary environment for cattle; and installation of video monitoring systems
that live stream to the Internet to help deter abuse at its dairy suppliers.

Leprino Foods is the world’s largest maker of mozzarella
cheese and a supplier to virtually all major pizza chains in the country,
including Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, and Domino’s.


This is not the first time extreme animal abuse has been
exposed at a Leprino cheese supplier. In 2009, Mercy For Animals documented workers hitting,
kicking, and shocking cows and cutting off the tails of baby calves without any
painkillers at Willet Dairy, the largest dairy factory farm in New York.
Following the release of similar undercover videos in Idaho and Wisconsin,
Nestlé and Kraft Foods — the two largest food companies in the United States —
agreed to enact comprehensive animal welfare policies to prevent abuses at
their supplier farms.
Leprino Foods has the power and ethical responsibility to
make sure the cheese it sells is not the product of egregious animal abuse.
Sign our petition today and urge
Leprino to do the right thing.