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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Wal-Mart move 'tipping point' for non-hormone milk
  • Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:24:33 -0600


'It's reached the tipping point. Even Wal-Mart's customers are demanding milk
free from genetically engineered hormones.'
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Wal-Mart move 'tipping point' for non-hormone milk
Globe and Mail (Canada), March 22 2008
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080322.RMILK22/TPStory/Business

Organic food proponents will remember Thursday as the day the ground shifted.

Giant food retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced that its store brand milk
in the United States will now come exclusively from cows not treated with
artificial growth hormones.

The move sends a powerful signal to food manufacturers about the growing
mainstream demand for health food products. With Wal-Mart already the largest
retailer of organic milk in the U.S., it has been clear that consumers
interested in greener food products are no longer the narrow group of
back-to-the-earth types and wealthy urban yuppies.

'It's reached the tipping point,' said Ronnie Cummins, director of the
Organic Consumers Association in the U.S., who has spent years campaigning
against the use of hormones designed to boost milk production by up to 15 per
cent in dairy cows.

'Even Wal-Mart's customers are demanding milk free from genetically
engineered hormones.'

Similar demands are growing in Canada, with mainstream grocery retailers like
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. introducing reams of new products to meet mainstream demands
for organic and 'green' foods. Canada, however, banned artificial growth
hormones for dairy cows in 1998, so is not affected by the milk changes
sweeping the United States.

'I think things are accelerating now and people are getting more health
conscious and are getting more conscious about the connection between their
personal health and the health of the environment,' Mr. Cummins said.

Grocery chain Kroger Co., with 2,500 stores in the U.S., began last month
selling only milk produced without the use of hormones like recombinant
bovine somatotropin (rBST). Safeway Inc., with more than 1,700 stores, has
switched its in-store brands to non-rBST milk, though it also sells other
brands produced from cows given the hormone. And starting in January,
Starbucks Corp. has only used non-rBST milk in its stores.

As the largest grocery retailer in the United States with more than 4,000
locations, however, Wal-Mart was the 'big get' for consumer advocates.

The retailer said Thursday that its change was prompted by consumer demands.
'Many Wal-Mart customers have expressed a desire for milk choices,' the
company's release said. The change means Wal-Mart's Great Value store brand
milk will be rBST-free, as will milk offered at the company's Sam's Club
warehouse locations.

'We've listened to customers and are pleased that our suppliers are helping
us offer Great Value milk from cows that are not treated with rBST,' said
Wal-Mart general merchandise manager Pam Kohn.

In the U.S., non-rBST milk has become a cheaper alternative to milk that is
fully organic. Mr. Cummins said it appeals to many consumers who want to
avoid the hormones but are unwilling to pay the far larger premium for
organic milk. 'When you look at all the surveys of consumer attitudes about
food safety, hormones consistently rank way up there, along with pesticides,'
he said.

Most dairy farmers do not use the artificial hormones, which were first
approved by the U.S. Drug Administration in 1993, so the impact on the
industry from Wal-Mart's announcement will be incremental rather than
dramatic. Mr. Cummins said USDA statistics show 18 per cent of U.S. dairy
cows were given artificial hormones in 2006.

David Darr, vice-president of public affairs for Dairy Farmers of America
Inc., a major U.S. producer of milk and dairy products, said yesterday that
there is already a lot of non-rBST milk available.

'There are more dairy farms across the U.S. that don't use it than do,' he
said. 'And the farms that did use the technology, they did not necessarily
use it on every cow.'

His firm, a co-operative owned by 18,000 dairy farmers, has members who
produce both kinds of milk.

'We continue to try to give our members a choice on what technology they use,
and try to find markets for milk however they want to produce it,' he said.
'But we are also cognizant and recognize the needs of our customers and try
to give them what they want.'




  • [Livingontheland] Wal-Mart move 'tipping point' for non-hormone milk, Tradingpost, 03/30/2008

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