Milk, Dairy Labeling Grows Contentious
US - Consumers said the choice of what they eat is at risk, while dairy farmers said they're losing a choice in how they produce milk.
10 December 2007
1 minute read
Some consumers among the 80 people at an ODA meeting on dairy labeling said they want as much information as possible on labels so they can make educated choices about their food, including whether or not their milk came from cows that were given a hormone called bovine somatotropin (BST).
BST, which Monsanto sells as Posilac and is used in a third of U.S. dairy herds, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1993 and can increase milk production by up to 15 percent per cow. The FDA says milk from cows given Posilac is safe for human consumption, and Ohio State University experts have noted all milk contains virtually the same amount of BST because it's naturally occurring.
But major retailers are rejecting milk from cows given Posilac, saying consumers don't want it. For example, Cincinnati-based Kroger plans to be BST-free by February.
Milk marketing cooperative Dairy Farmers of America has asked farmers to sign affidavits by Dec. 31 promising that they won't give their cows BST, saying it's becoming tough to find a market for such milk.
Source: DaytonDailyNews
