Organic Milk — Are You Getting What You Pay For?
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Creatas/Thinkstock (WASHINGTON) — The USDA’s inspector general has released a new report raising questions about whether paying $7 per gallon for organic milk is buying you a drink that’s completely free of the chemicals and genetically modified material that may be in plain old milk.
It’s not that investigators found traces of prohibited genetically modified material in organic milk. They did not.
What they did find is that the agents who certify which milks can carry the “USDA Organic” label aren’t looking for it. If they looked and found GM material, that would mean the organic cows were eating the same sort of feed that is allowed to be fed to all the rest of the cows.
Also, the tankers that transport organic milk are sterilized with the same FDA-approved sanitizers that are used for regular milk.
“So there is a risk that organic milk can come into contact with prohibited substances as it is being transported,” the report says.
The IG also noted organic certifying agents have been tipping off farmers before inspections.
Click here to read the full IG report.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio