Published: January 26, 2008 11:28 pm      

Dairies permitted note absence of rBST

LORETTO — Vale Wood Farms will be permitted to continue labeling its milk as coming from cows not treated with the rBST hormone as a result of action this month by the state Department of Agriculture.

The department issued new standards for milk labeling.

The rules allow dairies to make that claim as long as the labels include a statement that no significant difference has been shown between milk from cows treated with rBST and those not treated with the hormone, spokesman Chris L. Ryder said.

Vale Wood Farms was one of 19 dairies to receive notification from the Department of Agriculture in October that the rBST-hormone-free claim on its label would no longer be accepted. The ban was to take effect Feb. 1.

However, the 19 dairies now have until March 1 to submit wordings on their labeling regarding the non-use of rBST for the department’s approval, Ryder said.

Vale Wood Farms is the only dairy in the Cambria-Somerset region to be impacted by the agriculture department actions. The next closest operation is in Pittsburgh.

Cows injected with the synthetic hormone rBST produce more milk than cows that are not treated with it.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved use of rBST more than 10 years ago, recent consumer movement toward natural foods have resulted in some dairies not using rBST in their milk production.

“We are relieved to continue to be able to label our cartons as containing ‘milk from cows not treated with rBST hormone,’ ” said Bill Itle, president of Vale Wood Farms, which is at 517 Vale Wood Road.

Vale Wood Farms never has used rBST, spokeswoman Carissa Itle Westrick said last week. She said the company began noting that fact on its labeling in 2004.

Westrick said that rBST is not a public health issue.

“Its use just doesn’t fit into our philosophy,” she said.

She added that the statement regarding the dairy’s nonuse of rBST will be moved to the front panel of its milk cartons, once the agriculture department formally approves the wording.

Ryder said last week the department issued the new milk-labeling standards after receiving a lot of feedback from the public on its decision last fall stopping dairies from stamping milk containers with hormone-free labels.

When applicable, he said, the public wanted these labels.

“So we developed more accurate wording for the labeling,” he said in a statement.

Gov. Ed Rendell said dairies wanting to have no-rBST wordings on their labels will be required to vouch for their production methods to allow the agriculture department to verify those claims.

“I’ve directed the Department of Agriculture to increase the accountability of processors and protect consumers by taking legal action against any labels found to be inaccurate,” Rendell said.