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Organic Milk: Are You Getting What You Pay For?

Consumer group wants tougher enforcement, stricter rules

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 13, 2008
Organic milk is one of the biggest areas of growth in the dairy industry, making up three percent of all U.S. milk sales and growing at a double-digit rate. It also commands a much higher price per gallon than regular milk.

With so much money at stake, a consumer watchdog group charges some dairies are bending the rules to get more of their product classified as organic.

Which dairy farm is "organic?" Maybe both?

The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture claiming that a California supplier to one of the nation's largest organic labels is skirting the law. Specifically, the group charges the diary confines most of its cows to a feedlot rather than allowing them fresh grass and access to pasture as the federal organic regulations require.

"We are asking the USDA, once again, to investigate serious alleged improprieties at dairies that produce Horizon organic milk," said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst with the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute.

Horizon is owned by Dean Foods, one of the nation's largest dairies.

Cornucopia has fought this battle before. Last September the group was successful in lobbying USDA to threaten action against Aurora Organic Dairy, a supplier of organic milk to a number of national chain stores.

The company made changes to its practices after USDA disclosed it had threatened to revoke Aurora's organic certification because the company had committed 14 "willful violations" of federal standards.

What is it?

Federal regulations defining what exactly constitutes organic milk are somewhat vague.

The New York Times recently noted that "organic milk" essentially means "it comes from a cow whose milk production was not prompted by an artificial growth hormone, whose feed was not grown with pesticides and which had 'access to pasture,' a term so vague it could mean that a cow might spend most of its milk-producing life confined to a feed lot eating grain and not grass."

While consumer groups like Cornucopia complain that dairies bend the rules, the dairies complain the rules lack specificity.

The International Dairy Foods Association, a Washington lobbyist for the dairy industry, is pleased to see the growth in organic milk sales, but leery of establishing a mystique about it, lest it eclipse it's other non-organic products.

"The term organic refers to farm practices, not to the milk itself," the group says on its Web site. "Milk and dairy foods are among the most tested and regulated foods in this country. While organic dairy farmers use only organic fertilizers and organic pesticides and their cows aren't treated with synthetic hormones, the milk itself is the same as the milk produced conventionally."

Cornucopia's complaints have mainly to do with the number of cattle kept on organic dairy farms and the way they are housed.

Cornucopia's most recent complaint is the third filed with the USDA alleging Dean Foods has broken the federal law that governs organic production. Prior complaints also charged Dean was confining cattle on their two company-owned dairies, managing as many as 8,000 head of cattle each.

Pastureland

The group has also expressed concern that the cows spend most of their time confined to cramped feed lots, with just enough "access to pastureland" to meet the letter of the law. The group charges many dairies fail to meet the law's intent.

"In the eyes of consumers, factory farms — with questions about humane animal husbandry and records of endemic pollution — do not meet the ethical litmus test," Kastel said.

Pressure is growing on USDA to more clearly spell out exactly how much access dairy cows should have to pasture grazing before their milk can be legally labeled as "organic."

Even some farmers want the rules more clearly defined, to help them avoid running afoul of the law. And as demand for organic milk continues, more farmers are beginning to move into that space.

"The popularity of organic milk has already resulted in many conventional farmers choosing to raise cows without the use of artificial growth hormones," said Dr. Alan Greene, a pediatrician at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and Stanford University clinical assistant professor of pediatrics.

"This is a big accomplishment, brought about by consumer trends. If we keep choosing organic milk, we can expect similar changes in the whole system - as well as good nutrition -- and a cleaner environment -- for our families."

But only, say consumer groups, if milk labeled as organic is truly organic.

The Cornucopia Institute says that while more clearly defined parameters would be helpful, tougher enforcement of existing rules is needed to insure consumers are getting what they're paying for when they spend more to buy organic milk.

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