Researchers to study whether milk is racist

The British government this week greenlit a taxpayer-funded study to determine whether milk is racist.

A ‘white supremacist’ dietary choice

Researchers at the History of Science Museum in Oxford will be overseeing the project, which is titled: “Milking it: colonialism, heritage & everyday engagement with dairy.” The team, led by Dr. Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp, seeks to study the “colonial legacies” of milk, which is less consumed outside of Europe and North America due to higher rates of lactose intolerance.

Dr. Zetterstrom-Sharp told the Daily Mail it is a “white supremacist” notion that milk is a staple part of the human diet. In 2022, Zetterstrom-Sharp joined a panel discussion titled “Milk and Whiteness,” where she slammed the “‘Northern European obsession with milk.”

In a press release, the History of Science Museum said the study will reveal milk’s “political nature.”

“By focusing on communities intersecting industry, aid and government regulation, the project aims to centre on heritage as a vital framework for understanding how colonial legacies influence contemporary issues and affect people's lives," the museum said.

“Through milk diaries, archival research and participatory podcasting, it will investigate historical engagement with milk, building networks with consumers and producers in Britain and Kenya. The project will question both the imagined and real aspects of milk, revealing the intimate and political nature of this everyday substance.”

The museum will receive project funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, a body within the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

A climate war on dairy

The announcement comes as Western governments wage war on dairy for causing climate change through cows’ gas emissions.

Last year, Britain’s neighboring Ireland considered a €600 million ($641.4 million) initiative to remove 65,000 cows per year from the national herd to meet the government’s climate goals.

Months earlier, New York City Mayor Eric Adams blamed meat and dairy for contributing to climate change and vowed to reduce them by 33% by 2030. 

"Food is the third-biggest source of cities' emissions right after buildings and transportation. But all food is not created equal. The vast majority of food that is contributing to our emission crises lies in meat and dairy products," Adams said.

Dairy is also in the crosshairs of the C40, a Soros-backed network of nearly 100 mayors who have pledged to transform their cities to meet the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Guidelines. Participating cities include Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, DC, Dubai, Mumbai, Barcelona, Paris, London, Tel Aviv, Beijing, Cape Town, Tokyo, Sydney, and others.

To meet the WHO’s guidelines, C40 has proposed a slew of measures such as phasing out dairy and meat by 2050.

Other proposed measures include limiting taxpayers to one flight every three years and reducing the consumption of clothing and textiles to only three garments per person per year.