"Organic Valley" news and stories

Organic Valley, the nation's largest name-brand marketer of organic eggs, is being accused of misleading consumers about the living conditions of its California hens, and for violating federal organic standards, according to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The bombshell was dropped by the California-based organic watchdog group Cornucopia Institute, which says the hens at the Petaluma Egg Farm were confined in screened "porches" and not allowed to forage naturally in pastures with direct sunlight.

"The federal organic standards clearly state that 'year-round access for all animals to the outdoors' is a requirement," says Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst with the group in a release on their website.

The Cornucopia Institute has filed a legal complaint with the USDA over the matter. The current dust-up may be prompted by the USDA's National Organic Standards Board meeting scheduled for the end of April, where the board is expected to address whether "porches" meet the definition of access to the outdoors.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may be getting a little overzealous in its push to include more organic products on its shelves, according to the Cornucopia Institute. The group, which represents small farmers recently filed a complaint with the USDA alleging that the megadiscounter had falsely labeled some products as organic.

Cornucopia alleges that several Wal-Mart stores mislabeled Stonyfield Farm all-natural yogurt as organic. It also claims that nonorganic items like tofu and juice in a cooler used for organic produce. Wal-mart has countered these claims by noting that one of Cornucopia's founders, Mark Kastel, used to work for Organic Valley, a national farming cooperative that competes with several of the discounter's suppliers.

I'm not really a big buyer of organics and I'm not sure what to make of this case. I am pretty certain that I'd never buy anything labeled organic at Wal-Mart.

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