Organic milk/dairy ratings from The Cornucopia Institute

[essnce629]

Has anyone seen these before? They give grades to all the different organic dairies. I switched from buying TJ's organic milk to WF's 365 organic milk after seeing the ratings. I'm pretty sure WF's brand of organic milk is Organic Valley, which is highly rated. If the WF's brand is out, then I usually buy Clover since it's certified humane and cheaper than Organic Valley. Organic Valley, Whole Food's 365, and Clover all get a "4" rating which is "excellent." I read in another article that factory farm Aurora Organic Dairy supplies most of the store brand organic milks in stores, including Walmart, Costco, Safeway, Wild Oats, Woodstock Farms, and Trader Joe's. Aurora Organic Dairy gets a "0" grade which is "ethically deficient." If you click on each dairies name, you get the full profile. Some places I've never heard of since they're only sold locally. Interesting info though. The only dairy rated 5 that is available near me is Organic Pastures, which is the raw milk dairy, but it's no longer available in stores and is sold at the farmer's market. My neighbor buys it and says it's amazing, but it's also like $7 for a 1/2 gallon! I bought it once a long time ago when it was still sold in WF's.

http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html


And here's an article I found about Aurora Organic Dairy almost losing their organic certification a few years back. I wonder if Trader Joe's still gets their milk from them?

Aurora Organic Dairy battles PR nightmare
http://newhope360.com/managing-your-business/aurora-organic-dairy-battles-pr-nightmare

[Aarohismom]

Thanks for sharing!

[maestramommy]

I looked at their site a few weeks back when I started the organic milk thread. My feeling was the ratings are useful from the standpoint of, "What are you able to live with?" Since all the dairies have different ethical practices, it's useful to know if you absolutely don't want milk to come from a dairy that culls their sick cows, for example. Personally though, after reading it I came away feeling like now I have too much info. It gets to the point where all of my food choices become so weighty.

[AnnieW625]

Costco sells Stremicks Organic Milk in 3 packs, but only 1% or fat free (we drink 2% so I haven't really paid much attention to it), Stremicks is rated a 4. I don't believe that Costco sells organic milk under the Costco label. I could be wrong though, but I will definitely look the next time I am there. You can get Organic Pastures raw milk at Sprouts (formerly known as Henry's Marketplace in parts of Southern California). There has got to be one of those in your area.

Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons, Bristol Farms and Stater Brothers also carry Stremicks products per the Stremicks website.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Thank you, I am done with Shamrock Farms now....

[Dream]

Hmm the only organic milk that's available in gallon size is the Trader Joes. Organic valley and Stoneyfield is only available in quart size and its $4.xx vs $6.xx per TJ gallon. So I don't have much of a choice.

[AnnieW625]

Hmm the only organic milk that's available in gallon size is the Trader Joes. Organic valley and Stoneyfield is only available in quart size and its $4.xx vs $6.xx per TJ gallon. So I don't have much of a choice.

That is sort of how it is here too convenience wise for me. I do the bulk of my shopping at Trader Joe's because it is right next to Target. I use less mileage and such for doing both trips at one time. I guess I could shop at Stater Brothers for Stremicks Organic milk, but yes that is another trip, but at least Stater Brothers is closer than Whole Foods. I could drive another 5 miles to Whole Foods to get the Clover Stornetta, or Strauss Creamery (which I frequently bought when I lived in Nor Cal) I feel that while I might be buying a "slightly" better and "maybe" more ethical milk I still think that shipping milk 400 miles south isn't really all that much better than buying the alternative which is fresher because it is processed much closer to me.

Also I think that just because a company doesn't agree to participate in a Cornocopia survery or whatever process they used to determine which products are the best doesn't automatically make them the worst either. As an example Rockview Farms is still family owned and I think there is something to be said for that in this day and age, and while they might have to ship their milk a couple of hours south to have it processed at least it is still more local than paying more for what might be more ethical milk because a company participated in a certain PAC's survey or what not and having milk that is way less local. Just my .02.