ACTION
ALERT OF THE WEEK:
PUT AN END TO ORGANIC DAIRY FRAUD–ONCE & FOR ALL
SUCCESS STORY: Thanks to pressure from organic consumers,
Cornucopia Institute and the OCA, the USDA has finally taken preliminary
enforcement action against Aurora Organic for falsely labeling
factory farmed milk as "organic". Aurora is the nation’s
largest supplier of "private label" organic milk to
large retail chains and wholesalers including Wild Oats, Wal-Mart,
Costco ("High Meadows"), Safeway ("O" Organics),
Target, Giant ("Natures Promise"), UNFI ("Woodstock
Farms"), and others. Part of USDA’s long overdue slap on
the wrist of Aurora includes a legally binding Consent Agreement
by Aurora to stop labeling some (but not all) of its milk as "USDA
Organic" and to sell off hundreds of conventionally raised
cows from their massive feedlots. In effect the USDA has forced
Aurora to admit that they have deliberately and willfully defrauded
organic consumers since 2003 by selling millions of dollars of
cheap feedlot milk as organic, utilizing intensive confinement
of their milk cows and illegally importing calves from non-organic
dairy farms. For more information on this issue see: /articles/article_6912.cfm

THE
NEXT STEP: For more than a year, the OCA has called for a
boycott of Aurora’s bogus organic milk. While we are happy to
see USDA bureaucrats finally get off their butts and at least
do something to protect organic dairy standards, concerned organic
consumers are outraged that the USDA has not done all that federal
law requires. Although this multimillion dollar corporation was
found to have "willfully" violated federal law in misrepresenting
their milk as organic and defrauding consumers around the country
for over three years, they have been allowed to remain in business
and have seemingly gotten away without being fined a single cent.
We’re sick and tired of greedy corporations like Aurora degrading
organic standards.

It’s
time for grassroots Organic Consumers to prepare for legal action
and stop this fraud once and for all. But to do this we need your
help. If you feel you have been defrauded by purchasing "organic"
milk from any of the retail chains or wholesalers listed above
(i.e. those that get their milk from Aurora), and you are willing
to work with a team of OCA-allied legal researchers to stop this
organic labeling fraud, please contact us with the information
requested below, and our legal research team will contact you
by email or telephone.

If
you feel you have been defrauded by purchasing private label "organic"
milk, butter, or other dairy products from any of the retail chains
or wholesalers listed above (i.e. those that get their milk from
Aurora), or any other stores, and are willing to work with a team
of OCA-allied legal researchers to stop this organic labeling
fraud, please sign up here, and our legal research team will contact
you by email or telephone.

You
can also help us out a lot if you purchased any storebrand organic
milk or butter from the retailers listed above or from other stores,
from January 2004 through today, by dropping us a note at ronniecummins@organicconsumers.org
or calling the OCA office at
(218)- 226-4164 and letting
us know:

1.
Your name and phone number
2.
Name and brand of purchase
3. Name of store
4. City, state and addresses available
5. Approximate timeframe of purchase (ex. 2004-2006)