Dean Foods, makers of Birds Eye products, plans to undercut organic farmers by marketing totally unregulated “natural” yogurts and milks through its subsidiary, Horizon Foods. Natural Dean products will be those “produced without added hormones, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup.” (On the other hand, the nation's 10,000 small organic farmers must comply with USDA regulations which prohibit the use of genetic engineering, sewage sludge, irradiation, and a variety of other industrial-style agriculture practices.)

"However, Dean’s new “natural” yogurts and milk can — and will — come from dairy cows that have eaten pesticide laden feed such as corn and soy, antibiotics, pig and chicken byproducts, and sewage sludge. The only bad boy from the list of conventional animal feed that Dean has prohibited is hormones. So what’s a little sewage sludge and pesticide residue going to do to your kid anyhow?"

It is, unfortunately, common practice in US to spread sewage sludge on dairy pastures. The pollutants include parasitic worms, prions, viruses, bacteria and other pathogens -- pesticides, drugs, hormones, and lipophilic industrial chemicals which concentrate in the animals' milk and fat. Billions of pounds of toxic industrial wastes are discharged to sewage treatment plants in the US each year. The wastewater treatment process reconcentrates those hazardous pollutants in the sewage sludge.

Milk from cows in Georgia which had been grazed on sludged fields, was found to be contaminated with high levels of toxic thallium.

The US Dept. of Agriculture is presently investigating hazardous perfluorochemical (PFOA) uptake in meat and milk of livestock grazed on sludge-spread fields in Alabama. PFOS and PFOA are man-made fluorinated chemicals which are bioaccumulative carcinogens and highly toxic.If the chemicals are found to have contaminated meat, the results would mark the first time that perfluorochemicals have been traced from sludge to commercially produced food. In 2006, perfluorochemical contamination of two German rivers was traced to fields treated with sludge (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2006, 40, 7108−7109).

Excess Molybdenum in sludge is known to harm livestock by causing copper deficiency and hypocuprosis (Dr. Murray McBride, Cornell University).

"There have already been several incidents in Australia (e.g. Werribee) of cattle contaminated with organochlorine residues after grazing on sludge treated land. A major problem appears to be that close cropping animals tend to ingest significant quantities of soil as well as plants."

Even small amounts of PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) in sludge can cause bovine reproductive and developmental health problems Meat and dairy products are a key source of human exposure to persistent lipophilic organic contaminants including PCBs and dioxins.

Even Dr. Rufus Chaney, a US Dept. of Agriculture sludge proponent, admits

" . . . when the fluid biosolids are spray applied on standing forages, the biosolids particles can get stuck to the forages . .
when such contaminated forages are grazed, livestock can get high exposure to xenobiotics in biosolids." (“xenobiotics “ = Studying the Metabolism and Disposition of Chemicals in Biological Systems -Xenobiotics include such substances as TNT, PCBs, chlorophenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.") He further said, "Grazing (not forage uptake) by animals could be getting these compounds into food and milk, especially if the biosolids are surface applied." " . . . Biosolids can represent 12% of an animal's diet if fluid biosolids are surface applied . . ."

Dr. Chaney continued: “Plants can take up enough Cobalt to harm ruminant livestock under worst case model conditions." (Note: Cobalt in sludge is untested, unregulated and unmonitored.

Dairy farmer Ed Roller in Missouri suffered tremendous losses. A few years ago, the court ruled that the sewage sludge "contained substances
and compounds, toxic to humans and animals, i.e., fluoride, cadmium, lead, mercury, iron, arsenic, aluminum, selenium and molybdenum. Said
substances and compounds migrated from the land to the (Roller) neighboring dairy farm, causing damage including diminished milk production, death of cows
and loss of breeding opportunity."

In a letter dated December 3, 1996, Dean Foods wrote to assure me none of its products are grown in sewage sludge. Here is the warranty they require from their suppliers:

"The Seller warrants and represents that no sludge or waste (excluding whey) from any municipal or private source, or from any septic or other disposal system, has been applied to the land. In the event that any sludge or waste has been applied to such land on or after such date, this Agreement shall be void and of no further force or effect, and Seller shall pay Company for all planted seed and other costs related to the crop, and shall indemnify Company against all claims, demands, and losses which is any manner relate to raw and/or processed crop.

I hope this information helps you. Enclosed is a coupon to use towards your next purchase of any Birds Eye products."

Signed by Missy Allen, Dear Foods Consumer Relations Coordinator.

It is time to find out whether Dean Foods will be selling "natural" milk and dairy products from cows fed sludge-fertilized fodder, or grazed on sludged fields.

Helane Shields, PO Box 1133, Alton, NH 03809 Sludge researcher since 1996

Thanks for the post, Heidi. After reading your post, and doing some more digging, I learned that Dean Foods had quietly switched their "Silk" soy milk from "organic" to "natural", substituting conventional soy beans for what had previously been organic soy beans,... with no fanfare and no decrease in price. "Don't mind the pesticides bait-and-switch, folks, just look at the pretty wind turbine."