Milk Shake-Up

		NEWSLETTER			SUBSCRIBE
		DISCUSSIONS			CUSTOMER SERVICE
		VIDEO CENTER			Marketplace
		IN THIS ISSUE			Promotions

HOME	\|	GROWING A - Z	\|	OG SOLUTIONS	\|	LANDSCAPING	\|	COMPOST & SOIL	\|	ORGANIC LIVING

Miscellaneous

FREE Trial Issue!
	test

IN SEASON
	Visit OrganicGardening.com to sign up for our free weekly newsletters: In Season offers timely articles and projects, and Garden to Table delivers ideas and recipes for seasonal produce. Sign up now.

Gardening Events
	A state-by-state listing of gardening events in your area!

:: Home

Marketplace
	This is the classified ads section of the site. Happy Shopping!

Milk Shake-Up

By Amanda Rose



Related Articles

>	Organic Milk
>	Organic Food Sources
>	Our Food, Our Future

Milk is by far the most popular organic product, with annual sales of about $1 billion. And that will continue to grow as more and more people decide they don't want to expose themselves and their children to the hormones and antibiotics that cows are routinely given at conventional dairy operations. Recent news reports about large-scale organic dairies and direct farm-to-consumer milk sales, however, have raised questions about where you can go to find the purest, most healthful milk from the most humanely treated cows. Here are the latest developments and the information you need to answer that question for yourself.

Industrial Organic

The standards set by the USDA for certified-organic milk (enacted in 2002) prohibit dairy farmers from treating their cows with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and routine preventive doses of antibiotics. The rules also require that the cows have regular access to pasture.

As organic milk sales grew dramatically, watchdog groups, notably the Cornucopia Institute, began questioning whether dairies milking thousands of cows three times a day were actually meeting the pasture requirements. In 2007, the Cornucopia Institute filed a lawsuit against the USDA based on complaints about Dean Foods (owner of Horizon Organic) and Aurora Organic Dairy (which has its own brand and also sells milk to private labels such as Wal-Mart and Costco). Last year, the 3,000-cow Vander Eyk Organic Dairy in California--one of Dean Foods' suppliers--lost its organic certification, the first dairy to receive that penalty. Shortly thereafter, Aurora entered into a Consent Agreement with the USDA, promising to reduce herd size and add pasture to its dairies.

Choosing a brand that pastures its cows is not only in the interest of the cows' health. It's better for you, too. Research has shown that milk from grass-fed cows is higher in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Omega-3 fatty acids build brain and heart health. CLA is reported to help with weight loss and it appears to protect against breast cancer.

Label Battles

When you buy a product with the USDA's "certified organic" label, you know that the food producer has a specific set of standards it must meet and a process to achieve that certification. But you see a variety of other labels in grocery stores and farmers' markets that claim added features ("fortified with folic acid"), production systems ("grass fed"), and the absence of production technologies ("from cows not treated with rBGH"). These labels are controversial because the results of certain production methods of interest to consumers are not verifiable in a laboratory, and they are not regulated by the USDA.

The case of the genetically modified hormone rBGH (sometimes labeled "rBST" because the chemical name is bovine somatotropin) is a prime example. The FDA currently allows a milk carton to read "From cows not treated with rBGH"--a label describing the production method rather than the carton's contents. (Dairy farmers use rBGH to stimulate cows to produce milk at a younger age and at increased amounts.) But to accompany the statement declaring milk free of the artificial growth hormone, the FDA recommends a disclaimer: "No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBST-treated cows and non-rBST-treated cows."

No long-term studies have assessed the risk to people of ingesting milk from cows treated with rBGH, though opponents assert that the cows are more likely to suffer from diseases, such as mastitis. To combat consumer perception that hormone-free milk is better, the conventional dairy industry has formed American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology (AFACT), an organization whose primary goal is "supporting the advancement of new technologies." Launched in the fall of 2007, AFACT promotes the use of rBGH and has initiated a political effort at the state level to get so-called "absence labels" banned from use on dairy products. Monsanto, which is the only manufacturer of rBGH, provides funding to the organization but does not make governing decisions for it, according to Lori Hoag, a spokesperson for the company's dairy unit.

In 2007, legislatures in several states, including California and Pennsylvania, began to consider laws limiting absence claims on dairy products. Legislation introduced in Kansas in February 2008 (subsequently tabled until next session) reaches beyond dairy foods: It limits unregulated claims on all foods. "This Kansas bill will put all manner of labels at risk that are regularly used by local family farmers," notes Kansas City Food Circle co-coordinator Craig Volland. These include "free-range, cage-free, all natural, grass-fed, pasture-raised, pesticide-free, farm-fresh, heritage breed, and even locally produced." If this type of legislation is enacted, consumers who want to support natural production methods will be limited to buying certified-organic products and having firsthand knowledge of their food producers.

The Raw Deal

Before milk ever reaches the labeling stage, legislators decide what types will be in the dairy case: pasteurized, homogenized, or raw. Currently, all or part of 42 states prohibit sales of raw milk commercially, though demand for it is growing.

Raw milk does not undergo pasteurization, a heat treatment that kills bacteria and increases shelf life. But "pasteurization kills vitamin C, certain B vitamins, beneficial bacteria, and enzymes that help you digest the sugar, fat, and calcium in milk," says Nina Planck, raw-food advocate and author of Real Food. "In my mind, there's more risk eating fast food burgers than drinking clean milk straight from a healthy grass-fed cow."

Currently, many people (like Planck) buy raw milk directly from farmers. Some consumers purchase a "cow share" to obtain a portion of raw milk, while others buy the contraband milk as "pet food." In 2007, state regulators in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York raided farms looking for violations of restrictions on raw-milk sales. North Carolina and Georgia officials have threatened to require that the "pet food" be dyed a charcoal color to discourage human consumption.

The health benefits claimed by its proponents notwithstanding, raw milk carries an inherent health risk. The deadly E. coli 0157:H7 strain of bacteria, linked to illness and even death from consumption of contaminated hamburgers, spinach, and fruit juice, has been found in raw milk in California and Washington. The bacteria are found most often on industrial beef and dairy feedlots, and in manure and water that flow from them. But a lawsuit has now been filed on behalf of two children sickened in a 2006 outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 associated with raw-milk consumption. Earlier this year, California, known for its liberal raw-milk laws, imposed stricter bacteria standards. Raw-milk proponents fear that this will curtail supplies and further limit their choices.

Beyond Milk

Finding the safest, most healthful milk is, of course, critical to your family. The issues that face the organic milk industry are also a serious concern for anyone who cares about the quality and integrity of the food supply. The questions about milk--can industrial-scale operations adhere to both the law and spirit of the organic standards, and should farmers be allowed to present information (often unverifiable) about the processes used to make their products--face nearly every other facet of the organic marketplace. The answers will seriously impact your food choices.

RESOURCES

For updates on organic dairy news, see these sources: The Cornucopia Institute The Ethicurean The Organic Consumers Association

Save up to 27%: subscribe to Organic Gardening...

PLUS get a free gift and a FREE book! Click here now.

CATEGORIES:	Home Growing A - Z OG Solutions Landscaping Compost & Soil Organic Living
SERVICES:	Discussions Magazine Subscriptions Gift Subscriptions Newsletter
HELP:	Customer Service Contact Us
CORPORATE:	Rodale Inc Advertising Your Privacy Rights
OTHER RODALE SITES:	Bicycling.com Runner's World Running Times Women's Health Mountain Bike Prevention Men's Health Rodale