On April 16, 2007, Aurora Organic Dairy, the largest organic milk producer in the country, and supplier of organic milk to Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, Safeway and many other large stores, received a notice of proposed revocation from the USDA for willful violations of the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act.
The revocation letter from the USDA described 14 violations committed by Aurora Organic Dairy and stated: “Due to the nature and extent of these violations, the NOP proposes to revoke Aurora Organic Dairy’s production and handling certifications under the NOP.”
According to the Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group, the practices of Aurora are “a ‘horrible aberration’ and that the vast majority of all organic dairy products are produced with high integrity.”