Wal-Mart Slapped for Misleading Organic Consumers

CORNUCOPIA, WI: Consumer fraud investigators in the state of Wisconsin released their findings this week after a three-month long investigation into allegations that Wal-Mart stores throughout the state of Wisconsin had misled consumers by misidentifying conventional food items as organic. In a letter to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., based in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Wisconsin Department of… Read more »

The Organic Label Will Mean: No Cloned Animals, Period

USDA Advisory Panel Sends Clear Message WASHINGTON, DC — The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), an expert advisory panel to the USDA’s National Organic Program, has made it clear that organic agriculture should not allow the use of cloned animals or their offspring in the production of organic food. The NOSB voted at their spring… Read more »

Investors Continue to Challenge Dean Foods’ Approach to Organics

Investment in Factory Farms Questioned BOSTON: Socially concerned investors for the second year in a row have filed a shareholder proposal asking Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) to report to shareholders how it is responding to widespread concern that industrial-scale organic dairies, supplying milk for its Horizon Organic brand, violate consumer trust, seriously jeopardizing share… Read more »

Organic Watchdog Obtains Suppressed Public Documents From USDA Lawsuit

Secrecy of National Organic Program Successfully Challenged MADISON, WI: Sometimes the dismissal of a lawsuit against the government can still be viewed as a victory for the plaintiffs. That was the case earlier this month in federal district court in Madison, Wisconsin, when Judge Barbara Crabb dismissed a lawsuit brought by The Cornucopia Institute against… Read more »

Milk Processors Clout Versus the Voice of Dairy Farmers

Late last year we learned that the nation’s largest organic dairy processors (Organic Valley, Horizon, Stonyfield, Aurora and Humboldt) collaborated on drafting a secret letter to the USDA Secretary proposing their own “fix” to the controversy regarding factory-farms and whether their cattle are allowed to graze in compliance with the federal organic standards. We’ve just… Read more »

Organic Fraud: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Accused of Widespread Distortion

Nonorganic Food Products Misidentified as “Organic” Contact: Mark Kastel, 608-625-2000 CORNUCOPIA, WI: When the staff at The Cornucopia Institute surveyed Wal-Mart stores around the country last September, analyzing the giant retailer’s pronouncement that they would begin selling a wide variety of organic food at just a 10% mark-up over similar conventional products, they were surprised… Read more »

Images From an Organic Factory Dairy

The Case Vander Eyk, Jr. industrial-scale dairy is located in central California. The 10,000-herd facility is a “split operation.” At this facility at least 3500 of the cows are split from the herd and are supposed to be managed in accordance with federal organic regulations. In February, 2005 The Cornucopia Institute filed a formal legal… Read more »

Wal-Mart Charged with Selling Nonorganic Food as Organic

Group Asks USDA to Fully Investigate Organic Product Misrepresentation For more information, contact: Mark Kastel, 608-625-2000 Cornucopia, WI: The Cornucopia Institute, the nation’s most aggressive organic farming watchdog, has filed a formal legal complaint with the USDA asking them to investigate allegations of illegal “organic” food distribution by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Cornucopia has documented cases… Read more »

Groups Raise Organic Fish Farming Concerns

Led by the Center for Food Safety, a number of organizations have endorsed a letter to the National Organic Standards Board raising concerns about proposed organic regulations governing fish farming. The Cornucopia Institute is one of the signatories to the joint letter shown below.