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Group Files Complaint With USDA Over Calif. Dairy

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May 12, 2008 11:31 am US/Pacific

Group Files Complaint With USDA Over Calif. Dairy

SNELLING (AP) ― A consumer watchdog group has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, saying a Merced County dairy is breaking federal laws for organic certification.

The Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute alleged in papers filed Monday that the Fagundes Dairy in Snelling, which supplies the nation's largest organic milk company, keeps cows cooped up in dirty pens instead of giving them access to pasture.

Another California supplier of Texas-based Dean Foods had its certification revoked last summer because it couldn't prove to investigators that its herd had access to pasture, among other requirements. Now the Case Vander Eyk Jr. Dairy can't produce or sell milk labeled as organic in the United States unless it's recertified.

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