Milk and products made from it such as cheese, yogurt, butter etc. are usually considered vegetarian. But after a doctor’s post on social media, a debate has started. Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, Executive Editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, gave further air to the controversy by saying that since milk and cheese come from animals, they should be considered as non -vegetarians like chicken or beef.
Actually, a doctor Sunita Sayamagru shared a picture of a vegetarian plate on X (first Twitter). The vegetarian plate included cheese, moong dal, carrots, cucumbers and salads with onions, raw coconut, walnuts and a bowl of kheer. He captioned it, “Dinner plate of husband’s vegetarian food. It has protein, good fats and fiber.”
Dr. Karpagam wrote on X, posting the post of doctor Sunita, “Paneer and milk are not ‘vegetarian’. They are animal sources foods … like chicken, fish, beef and all.” After this response, the debate of vegetarian and non -vegetarian started on social media. Many users showed disagreement over his statement.
Many users argued that cheese and milk are vegetarian because no animal is killed to receive them. One user wrote, “No one is killed to eat cheese or milk.” The other wrote, “Milk products are animal products, which do not have to kill any animal and hence it is really vegetarian and is not non -vegetarian. The killing or loss of any animal depends on the system of milking, vegetarian means vegetarian only occurs.” One user wrote, ‘So when the baby drinks breast milk … then will you use this reasoning. Do you really treat patients?
The debate of milk and cheese being a vegetarian or non -vegetarian intensified when Dr. Karpagam compared it to the egg. He argued and asked why the eggs are considered non -vegetarian if the chickens were not killed. This intensified the debate further, some people accused him of spreading wrong information, while others felt that she was trying to provoke people to join more and more.
Actually, milk comes out of the mammary glands of cow, buffalo, goat etc., but no animal is harmed in it. Paneer is made from milk, so it is also considered vegetarian. Milk does not contain any cells or tissues of the animal, so it does not fall under the category of non-vegetarian. Non -vegetarians occur when food contains the flesh, blood, or tissue of an organism. Traditional Indian cheese is made from lemon, vinegar or tartaric acid, which is completely vegetarian.
In Hinduism, milk and its products are considered sacred and sattvic food. Lord Krishna was also a lover of Makhan, curd and milk, from which it falls in the category of vegetarianism.