Daiya, a plant-based vegan cheese that has been on the market for nearly a decade now, has announced they intend to partner with Otsuka, a Japanese pharmaceutical company that they claim shares their values and is a committed partner servicing the same goals as Daiya. A stunning blow to the people who thought Daiya's values did not include animal testing.

Otsuka is a known pharmaceutical and nutraceutical company that uses animals in it laboratory testing, as well as in it's research and development. You can read about their use of animals here, on their own website.

Daiya, a brand that is certified vegan by Vegan Action, and as part of their vendor approval program, require their suppliers to provide them with a vegan statement, has decided that big $$$ and big-pharma are both more aligned with their real values than millions of compassionate, dedicated, plant-based and vegan consumers who have rejected wholesale the use of animals for profit, research or food.

Many vegan businesses have trusted and built their businesses around Daiya as a pillar in our community that shows you can, easily and affordably, live a compassion lifestyle free from harming animals. What Daiya has now shown us is that anyone can be bought; they too had a price point where the torture and suffering of animals is acceptable, so long as they stand to make much more money for themselves.

This is not the company we trusted. This is not the company we supported. This is not the company we helped succeed. This, should they go ahead with this partnership, is not the company that we believe in anymore.

We believe this is not only a total betrayal of the ethics and core values that this company was founded on, but worse, it is proving that all the critics were right; you can't be vegan and be world-class; that you can't be vegan and share in real success; that you can't be vegan and be a global success.

We reject that. Completely. And we are saddened and disheartened by their weakness and greed.

We ask that Daiya decide that the people who have supported them as a vegan company for years, and the values that inspired their company remain uncompromised. We ask that Daiya consider accepting less profit rather than filling their pockets with blood-money. Unless it was only ever about getting rich off people who actually care, in which case, we will take our business elsewhere, to a company that supports the things we believe in rather than their own bank accounts.

We the undersigned, ask that Daiya not betray all of their loyal customers, their own core values, and all the vegan businesses that have relied on them to bring plant-based, vegan foods to people all over the world. We think that rejecting animal testing is more important than cashing in on the market for plant-based foods by companies that are only interested in serving this community because of the dollars in our wallets.

It's not too late to change direction. It's not too late to be the company we all believed you to be.