OCA Responds to UNFI Chief

The OCA issued a response to UNFI Chief Michael Funk's letter from last week. I am now convinced Horizon is indeed a horrible, horrible company.

"OCA acted in good faith by clearly communicating to Horizon what they needed to do to end the boycott, but Horizon has yet to respond or even make a counter offer. Now Michael Funk, United Natural Foods CEO, who has recently been acting as a mediator, has resorted to mudslinging against OCA. It is a shame that the companies involved seem willing to do just about anything but deal with the violations of organic standards that lead to the boycott . "OCA will not be intimidated. We intend to continue the boycott until Horizon agrees to produce only truly organic milk," says Ronnie Cummins, Executive Director of OCA, in response to an open letter from Michael Funk.

..What Michael Funk fails to mention in his letter (see http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4998.cfm for the full
letter) is that he is a major distributor of both Horizon Organic and Aurora Organic Milk through United Natural Food's private label Woodstock Farms, and stands to lose money from the continuation of the boycott.

..A study by the Cornucopia Institute found that Horizon is purchasing a major portion of their milk from feedlot dairies where the cows have little or no access to pasture, and have routinely been importing calves from conventional farms, where animals are routinely weaned on blood plasma, fed genetically engineered feed, slaughterhouse waste, and poultry manure, and injected or treated with antibiotics."

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