Dairy Report Claims Industrial Producers Are Bad for Consumers

The non-profit consumer organization Food & Water Watch has released a report, “Dairy 101,” that discusses how the dairy industry has moved from thousands of relatively small producers across the nation to fewer, industrial-scale facilities concentrated in a few states. According to the report, this development is not good for the environment or for cows, which “are crowded into high-density feedlots with no access to grass and milked in round-the-clock shifts,” and are also not good for consumers, who do not know where their dairy products come from and whether the cows have been treated with antibiotics or growth hormones. The report also contends that pricing formulas and decreasing government support have provided family farmers with less income, while increasing prices for consumers.

The report concludes by recommending that (i) anti-competitive behavior in the dairy market be ended, (ii) dairy farmers be provided with a fair wage, (iii) industrial dairies be required to comply with environmental laws, (iv) a local dairy production system be re-established, (v) labeling of artificial hormone-free products be allowed to protect consumers’ right to know, (vi) the integrity of organic milk standards be protected, and (vii) the Food and Drug Administration be required to stop companies from adding milk protein concentrate to their food products.