Is milk vegetarian food?

Ireland
April 24, 2007 8:04am CST
Milk has always been regarded as a vegetarian food. But now there are concerns that say milk is non vegetarian as it contains live cells i.e the epithelial cells from bovine udder. Also various people think that by consuming milk we are depriving the rightful owners i.e. calves of their right to drink their mother's milk. Please post your reviews on this.
1 person likes this
2 responses
26 Apr 07
To me I never consider any animal products a vegetarian food. I think that people who drink milk are not pure vegetarians. However it is up to each individual what they decide they should eat and drink and it doesn't really matter what they are is called. The milk we drink was never meant for calves. The cows are injected with hormones to stimulate milk production so that they can produce enough for the people who drink it. So we aren't stealing a food source from an animal, but we are forcing cows to produce milk that they wouldn't usually make.
1 person likes this
• Ireland
26 Apr 07
Thanks for the post. Its true that its upto us what we want to eat or not but mostly people make hue and cry over what we eat.
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
27 Apr 07
You are describing a vegan point of view - vegans don't drink milk, but it is still a "vegetarian" food because vegetarian's still drink it.
27 Apr 07
lacto vegetarians drink milk that is true but pure vegetarians consume no animal products.
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@ibsnet (1268)
• India
27 Apr 07
First of all I want to say there is no question of veg or non veg in terms of milk. Milk is a complete food. Vegetarian from its very definition says, the food obtained from plants only. And Non-vegetarian pertains to anything obtained from animals, whether animal body parts as meat, animal secretions such as milk. Therefore, we are well to say milk is purely non vegetarian one. Does it matter if one takes naturally available food such as milk with veg or non veg. I am not supporting the non veg view. But Milk is a complete food for every human being. Either you believe in Veg or Non Veg Can you deny when a human mother feeds a human baby. It's also non veg because again it is a animal (human as per science defines is animal not plant) secretion. So we should not treat milk as veg or non veg. It is a complete essential food for almost every human being, for every baby for growing kids and old parents also. By taking cow's milk we are not depriving the rightful owners, it's god gifted the milk cow can produce in a day is much more than what its calf require the whole day. And we use the excess milk. Of course no person should try to get all milk out of cow by not allowing the calf to take its feed. We should allow the calf first to take and then draw the excess milk.