Aurora Organic Dairy Corporation hit by class action lawsuits over "organic" milk labels

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(NaturalNews) The Cornucopia Institute has announced a wave of class action lawsuits against the Boulder, Colorado-based Aurora Organic Dairy Corporation, which it says is engaged in, "the largest scandal in the history of the organic industry." The lawsuits allege that Aurora Organic Dairy Corporation, which supplies organic milk to Wal-Mart, Wild Oats, Target, Costco, Safeway, and other retailers, is engaged in "consumer fraud, negligence, and unjust enrichment" by failing to adhere to USDA organic standards even while selling its milk under the organic label.

Federal investigators have already found Aurora in violation of organic standards, according to the Cornucopia Institute, and the USDA has warned Aurora over multiple "willful" violations of organic standards. "Aurora was taking advantage of the consumer's good will in the marketplace toward organics, and the USDA has allowed this scofflaw-corporation to continue to operate," said Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute, which has been following Aurora's activities for several years and first alerted the USDA to Aurora's practices in 2005.

The lawsuits are the latest round in a battle of wills between Aurora Dairy, the Cornucopia Institute (www.Cornucopia.org) and the Organic Consumers Association (www.OrganicConsumers.org). In the last few weeks, Aurora Dairy threatened to sue the Cornucopia Institute and Organic Consumers Association for their continued publicizing of Aurora's reported failures to meet organic standards. Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association refused to back down, insisting on holding his ground on this issue and rallying readers for financial support to defend the OCA against Aurora's potential lawsuit.

In a press release distributed today, Aurora essentially declared it had no idea what the OCA and Cornucopia Institute were talking about and said that, "There is absolutely no basis for claims we defrauded consumers by selling milk that isn't organic -- none whatsoever. Our milk has always been organic." Aurora has announced its intention to fight the class action lawsuits and claims it has been "falsely accused" by the OCA and Cornucopia Institute.

The USDA, for its part, has bewilderingly declared that it has no jurisdiction over these organic standards! Playing right into the hands of the $100 million-a-year Aurora Organic Dairy Corporation, the USDA -- which has long since abandoned any mission of actually defending the interests of the public -- announced it would not take any action against Aurora and would allow Aurora to continue selling its milk as "organic" even though the company has clearly been found engaging in practices that no reasonable person would consider "organic."

As the Organic Consumers Association explains:

In a mind-twisting manipulation of logic, the new acting Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck Connors, a notorious cheerleader for biotech and corporate agribusiness, announced last week that this issue, regarding Aurora's violation of the USDA National Organic Standards, falls outside the scope of the USDA National Organic Standards.

"We believe that there are tens of thousands of consumers across the United States who have been directly impacted by Aurora's practices," said Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association. "We are pleased to see this legal action. We will do what we can to ensure that organic continues to mean organic and that consumers get exactly that when they are paying premium prices for organic food."

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