Milk Labeling Rule Change Good News for PA Consumers

The decision by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to continue to allow dairies to label their milk as rBGH–free is good news for consumers, according to the national consumer advocacy organization Food & Water Watch. Today the PDA rescinded a pending rule that would have stopped dairies from labeling their milk as coming from cows not injected with the artificial growth hormone rBGH.
 
“As more consumers become aware of the dangers of rBGH, they are demanding to know how their dairy products are produced,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. A 2007 poll conducted for Food & Water Watch indicates that 80 percent of consumers want milk from cows not treated with the hormone to be labeled "rBGH–free."
 
In October the department had announced that dairies would no longer be able to make this claim on their labels because there is no laboratory test to detect the presence of rBGH in milk. Today, PDA rescinded that rule and released revised standards for the approval of labeling of fluid milk that allow the use of a label making an “rBGH–free” claim. The rule states that by March 1, dairies will have to submit their labels to the state for approval in order to make an rBGH–free claim and spells out the terms for using such a claim.

Pennsylvania would have been the first state in the country to restrict the use of this label and the negative reaction from consumers was fierce. Thousands of emails and calls have flooded into the governor’s office since October, protesting this change.  “We are glad to see that Governor Rendell and the Department of Agriculture reconsidered this issue and made sure that Pennsylvania consumers have a right to know how their milk is produced and that dairies have a right to tell them,” Hauter concluded.