What are some “true” organic dairy products?
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Our book club just finished reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. It touched off a lot of debate about what is truly “organic” and what isn’t. I wanted to learn more. One of my favorite “green” sites, A Fresh Squeeze, recommended The Cornucopia Institute for solid information on this topic. The Cornucopia Institute is a progressive farm policy research group in Wisconsin. Basically, I gather, but can’t confirm, they are lobbyists for family-scale farmers. But, in case you are put off by the term lobbyist- wait: the two founders of Cornucopia come from legitimate science and research backgrounds. Mark Kester, one of the co-founders, did extensive research on rBHG, revealing that cows were dying and whole herds were suffering from serious illnesses soon after they were injected. This crucial research led him to get involved with the development of the bill to regulate organic farming in Congress. The other co-founder, Will Mantle, has written numerous articles on environmental, resource, food and health issues for national magazines and weekly newspapers. He has also been a consultant on recycling, mainly for the municipal and industrial sectors. So, in the end, I feel comfortable with using their research as a tool to answer my questions. The Cornucopia Institute published the Dairy List and Score Card- arranged by cow star ratings. (clever!). I recognized quite a few of them….here are some of the ratings of farms you might know.
The highest rating is 5 cows and the top score is 1200.
Farm- cow rating- score
- Seven Stars- 5 cows- 1190
- Hawthorne Valley Farm- 5 cows-1180
- Butterworks Farm-5 cows-1190
- Organic Valley-4 cows-1135
- Amish Country Farms-4 cows-1100
- Whole Food Markets-4 cows-1070
- Stonyfield Yogurt-4 cows-1035
- Stonyfield Milk (HOOD)-3 cows-845
- Ben and Jerrys-3 cows-560
- Trader Joes (fluid milk products)-1 cow-0
- Wild Oats- 1 cow-0
- Costco (Kirkland)-1 cow-0
- Horizon (Dean Foods)-1 cow-0
- Back to Nature (Kraft)-1 cow-0
- Wholesome Valley Cheese-1 cow-0
- For complete information about: whether the product listed is milk, cheese or yogurt, or why they received the below ratings, and to view a full list please visit: http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html
John
Thank u for the valuable information. I mainly buy trader joes milk so i am very glad to know the real info behind the milk production…..and relieved.
Yes the documentary “Food Inc.” is a must see!
Used the great website provided by Ann to find out the source of the organic milk bought at Trader’s Joe:
First answer: a large producer named: “Guida’s Milk And Ice Cream”, which does not produce per se organic products, so digging more, I found out that “Organic Valley” has partnered with Guida’s Milk for organic production. So here you go, “Organic Valley” milk (4 stars in “Cornucopia’s rating) for the Trader’s Joe price !!! (much lower)
On the Cornucopia scale, Trader’s Joe product is shown with 1 star, as they did not provide enough supporting information, which is consistent with their policy of protecting their source (usually a well known brand)
Thank you again for this great article!
I LOVE this. My husband and I don’t drink cow’s milk anymore (aside from the stomach pains and gas, someone also said to me once, “Cow’s milk is meant to bring a couple of hundred pound calf into a several hundred pound cow… think about what it’s doing to you”), but I imagine that site is also good for goat’s milk. I’m really glad I found you guys…. the world of organic can be confusing!!!
Great post! I have a 15 month old baby and have been only giving him organic milk however, recently I read that ultrapasturized milk isn’t beneficial. It may not contain hormones and pesticides but it also lacks any nutrition. I am having a hard time finding a balance! My store milk is not ultrapasturized but also not on this list. Ugh.
Hey Ann,
That’s great information. Thank you. I have bought that brand too. Great to have such a good sleuth reading.
Answering my own questions. I did some sleuthing. The carton has a plant tracking number. Ours is 42-153.
Using this site:
http://whereismymilkfrom.com/allDairies.php
I was able to identify the farm in PA
http://www.longacresdairy.com/
When I clicked on their product offering, I saw that they are branded under “Natural by Nature”
and have 4 cows from Cornucopia. ( I am assuming that Fairway is just re-branding the same milk here)
So that’s pretty cool!
Thanks. I often buy the Fairway brand, which claims to be grass-fed. They are not included on this survey, but I wonder where that milk comes from.
I will put it on my Netflix queue- thanks for the info.
Great post Karen! We recently watched Food Inc. and it totally changed the way we are eating and shopping. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it