SAFEGUARDING ORGANIC STANDARDS - In March 2006, Organic Bytes (OCA's electronic newsletter) subscribers voted 96% to 4% in an online survey to launch a boycott against two of the largest organic dairy companies in the nation, Horizon Organic (a subsidiary of Dean Foods), supplier to Wal-Mart and many natural food stores; and Aurora Organic, a supplier of private label organic milk to Costco, Safeway, Giant, Wild Oats, and others.
Horizon and Aurora, who together control up to 65% of the organic dairy market, are blatantly violating traditional organic standards by purchasing the majority of their milk from factory-style dairy feedlots where the cows are kept in intensive confinement, with little or no access to pasture.
These same so-called "organic" dairy feedlots are also continuously importing calves from conventional farms, where the animals have been weaned on blood, fed slaughterhouse waste and genetically engineered grains, and dosed with antibiotics.
In April and May of 2006 OCA submitted over 50,000 petitions signed by organic consumers to the NOSB, calling on the USDA National Organic Program to put an end to these practices. After widespread media coverage generated by the OCA and the Cornucopia Institute, millions of consumers are being alerted to this issue.
A growing number of natural food stores and coops have begun to pull these bogus organic dairy products from their shelves: http://www.organicconsumers.org/nosb2.htm.
Comments