Top U.S. dairy company, Dean Foods, to ban products from cloned animals

Sam Fromartz, blogger, reporter, and author of Organic, Inc has an exclusive story at his blog Chews Wise on Dean Foods' announcment to ban the use of dairy products from cloned animals. Dean's announcement follows similar actions from Ben & Jerry's, Clover-Stornetta, Organic Valley, Straus Family Creamery, Stonyfield Farms, and retailers Whole Foods and Wild Oats, though Dean's decision may have the biggest impact on the commercialization of clones to date, at least in the dairy industry. Dean Foods sells dairy under more than 50 different brands, including Berkeley Farms, Borden, AltaDena, Land O' Lakes, Garelick, Hershey's Milk, Meadow Gold and Verifine. Dean also sells under many private label supermarket brands, and owns Horizon Dairy, the country's largest organic milk brand. Dean Foods is the industry leader, raking in over $10 billion in annual sales.

Read Dean's position statement over at Chews Wise

Whole Foods and Wild Oats to Ban Meat and Milk from Cloned Animals

According to a story posted today on Meatingplace.com, Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats have said they will ban food products from cloned animals or their progeny if such foods are approved for sale. Both companies also urged the labeling of these products for consumers.

According to Meatingplace.com:
the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported. "Whole Foods believes any food derived from cloned animals and offspring should be required to be labeled as such to allow consumers to make informed decisions on the meat and milk they buy," Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of communications and quality standards for the chain, told the newspaper.

Bill to label food from cloned animals introduced in the House

U.S. House Representative DeLauro (D-CT) introduced an identical, companion bill, HR 992, to the Cloned Food Labeling Act recently introduced by U.S. Senator Mikulski (D-MD). Both bills would require mandatory labeling of food products from animal clones or their offspring.

Tell Congress to label food from cloned animals!