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The Controversy about Organic Integrity
at Aurora Organic Dairy
 

When you see the organic label on a product, you want to be sure that you can trust that product is indeed grown and processed organically. The USDA Organic label and the national organic standards behind it were supposed to provide consumers with that assurance
 
But consumers of milk are wondering: Is the milk they purchased, which was privately labeled and produced at facilities owned by Aurora Organic Dairy, indeed organic? It depends on whom you ask.
 
The controversy started in 2005 and 2006 when the Cornucopia Institute, a leading consumer and small farms advocacy group, brought legal complaints about Aurora Organic Dairy to the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) regarding the legitimacy of the organic certification on industrial-scale farms Aurora owns and operates.
 
These legal complaints by the Cornucopia Institute did bring about an investigation by the USDA into Aurora Organic Dairy productions, and resulted in a Notice of Proposed Revocation in April 2007
 
The proposed revocation never took place, however. Instead the USDA and Aurora Organic Dairy entered into a consent agreement which includes a one year review period whereby Aurora will file new organic systems plans for its Platteville, CO and Dublin, TX facilities.
 
On October 16, 2007, the controversy took on greater significance as class action lawsuits were filed in U.S. federal courts in St. Louis and Denver on behalf or organic food consumers against Aurora Organic Dairy for consumer fraud, negligence and "unjust enrichment" concerning the sale of organic milk by the company.
 
Learn more at:
 
Aurora Organic Dairy Signs Consent Agreement With USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service
 
Cornucopia Institute Newsroom
 
Aurora Dairy Newsroom
 
Organic Consumers Organization
 
United States Department of Agriculture

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