Aurora Organic Dairy Denies Malpractice

US - Aurora Organic Dairy has denied accusations by small-scale farm campaigning organisation, the Cornucopia Institute, accusing it of selling milk that does not adhere to organic standards.

2 September 2009

2 minute read

North America

Aurora supplies dairy products to food manufacturers and provides many large supermarket chains with store brand organic milk, including Wal-Mart, Safeway and Target, among others. This is the second time the Cornucopia Institute has filed a complaint with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) about Aurora’s organic standards in the past two years. However, the company has repeatedly said that its organic certification is valid.

The Cornucopia Institute claims that Aurora Organic Dairy does not allow its cattle sufficient grazing on open pasture as is required by USDA organic regulations. The complaint centers on an accusation that Aurora has planted “substandard crops that are planted on an annual basis” that do not provide adequate year-round grazing. The organisation also claims that the USDA has not investigated earlier allegations that it raised two years ago regarding the same Platteville, Colorado facility.

Vice president of communications for Aurora Organic Dairy, Sonja Tuitele told FoodNavigator-USA.com: “These complaints are really serial allegations. They are all without merit. They are false claims that have never proven out. This is basically the same complaint as in 2007 and the USDA has declined to investigate.”

Aurora says that it is subject to “annual inspections, regular monitoring, and unannounced inspections at any time” and the company received Animal Welfare Review Certification for each of its five organic dairy farms last December.