Report says major food companies want rBGH-free milk

On June 9, The Dairy & Food Market Analyst, reported that Dean Foods, Wal-Mart and Kroger, and possibly others, are on a nationwide search for milk that hasn’t been derived from cows treated with the genetically engineered growth hormone, rBGH.

Dean is the largest milk processor in the country and Wal-Mart the largest retailer.

In response to this and a series of actions in the past year of dairies going rBGH-free, Monsanto is now lowering the price of rBGH to try to cling to its dwindling market.

On June 4, an Associated Press article in the Montana Independent Record reported that the state’s two largest milk processors, Darigold Farms and Meadow Gold, are now requiring farmers to sign affidavits saying they’re rBGH-free.

Darigold’s CEO Mike Monforton said the “decision was guided by the farmers themselves” and “derived from consumer demand.”

On June 1, the Garelick processing plant in Florence, New Jersey, declared itself rBGH-free. This is a major plant, producing 45 million pounds of milk per month.

Garelick’s plant supplying milk for Maine had already gone rBGH-free a few years ago because consumers there had already “voted with their dollars” and were buying competitors’ rBGH-free milk, causing Garelick to lose market share.

These moves follow on the heels of several major dairies in Oregon, including Tillamook, Eberhard, Alpenrose, and Darigold, declaring themselves rBGH-free over the past year.

In addition, Health Care Without Harm, an international coalition of 443 organizations that promotes healthy practices in hospitals, issued a position statement in June 2005 against rBGH. Since then, numerous hospital systems all over the country have initiated actions toward going rBGH-free.
(Source: Rick North, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility)
The Organic & Non-GMO Report (August 2006).