Climax Foods Wins PETA’s ‘Great Food Award’ After Spat Over Loss of ‘Good Food Awards’ Prize

For Immediate Release:
May 6, 2024

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

Berkeley, Calif. –

Climax Foods, a vegan cheese company that was poised to upend the cheese industry as a winner of the “Good Food Awards”—before it was disqualified over a late rule change, a move widely believed to have been made at the behest of dairy industry insiders—is receiving PETA’s “Great Food Award,” in recognition of the company’s cutting-edge achievements in creating delicious, animal-free cheese.

Climax’s vegan blue cheese was all set to win the Good Food Foundation’s (GFF) 14^th annual Good Food Awards after topping a blind tasting and earning high marks for its sustainability standards, only to be suddenly disqualified just one week before the awards ceremony. Climax CEO Oliver Zahn has accused GFF of caving in to pressure from the dairy industry and changing the certification rules after the fact.

Certificate to Climax Foods for the Great Food Award

“A vegan blue cheese’s win of the top spot may have felt grating to dairy cheese competitors, but Climax Blue’s soft texture and rich, buttery flavor is a treat that can’t be beat and that all cheese-lovers adore,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is celebrating Climax Foods for shaking up the industry by creating delicious vegan cheeses that protect animals and the planet.”

PETA’s investigations into dairy facilities have found workers electroshocking cows in the face, hitting them with poles and a cane, and abusing them in other ways. Once cows’ bodies wear out after repeated pregnancies, they’re sent to slaughter. Each person who goes vegan saves nearly 200 animals each year and improves their health since vegans are less prone to suffer from cancer, heart disease, strokes, and diabetes.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.