美国有线新闻 CNN Just How Organic Is Your Milk? Well, It Depends On The Dairy It Came From

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Organic milk is widely available these days, but what does that label really mean? A new Washington Post investigation¹ found that there are considerable differences between the organic milk you can buy in a grocery store and the kind you can buy straight from farmers. Peter Whoriskey investigated the Aurora² Organic Dairy, which supplies house-brand organic milk to many large retailers³ and other large dairy operations. He joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.

PETER WHORISKEY: Thanks for having me.

SIMON: So you analyzed⁴ grocery-store organic milk and compared it to the milk from the small farms. What did you find?

WHORISKEY: We tested them chemically, and you can see from the results how much time a cow has been eating pasture, which is what organic cows are supposed to be doing. And you could see, you know, conventional milk was very low in the grass-fed department. And some of the organic milk, especially ones from very small farms, was quite high.

The larger corporate⁵ organic milks were sort of in the middle. And there was one large organic producer that was actually almost identical to conventional milk.

SIMON: You visited some of those corporate farms, I guess, in Texas and Mexico and Colorado. What are they like?

WHORISKEY: In some ways, they don't look too much different than a conventional dairy. You have most of the cows that when we visited were in the feedlots and not out on pasture, which is where you would expect under organic regulations you'd see most of the cows.

SIMON: Was that a violation⁶ of the regulations?

WHORISKEY: Yes. Under organic rules, you're supposed to graze the cows through the grazing season, and there are specific amounts of grass that they're supposed to be eating during that time. But they're supposed to be on grass throughout the grazing season. If - and we would go out to these places that had thousands and thousands of cows. And you might see 100, 200, 300 of them out, but the rest were not there.

SIMON: And they get away with it because there's just not enough resources to monitor?

WHORISKEY: Well, the USDA has a very interesting enforcement system. Rather than sending USDA organic inspectors⁷, each organic dairy or any organic farm hires their own inspection⁸ agency. They call them certifiers. And you hire your inspection agency.

They come out once a year, and they'll check paperwork. They might do some other tests. But generally speaking, there's obviously a conflict of interest there because they're your employee, and they're testing you and going to tell you whether or not your milk's organic.

SIMON: You also talked with farmers that have small herds⁹, right?

WHORISKEY: Right.

SIMON: And are more idyllic¹⁰, at least, certainly, in image. What do they tell you about producing milk these days?

WHORISKEY: I've never met a farmer who thought business was great, and everything was going really well. These guys are obviously a lot - under a lot of pressure. And they're very upset that they're competing against people who are not playing by the rules. And they look at a very large farm - and for certain practical reasons, it's hard to do a 15,000 cow facility because you have to have enough land...

SIMON: Yeah. To graze, right?

WHORISKEY: ...And you need - even if you get enough land, it takes a long time to get the cows out to pasture and then back to milk. So there's a reason why there's a lot of small farms. It's a little bit easier. So they're frustrated¹¹, a lot of them.

SIMON: Mr. Whoriskey, how can people tell the difference in short of a lab test? I mean, is something they can taste?

WHORISKEY: I can't taste it. I don't know that anybody can. What you can sort of see if you buy a house brand of milk, you can look at the code on the milk. It's usually four or five numbers. It's the milk processing code. For example, Aurora Organic Dairy is 08-29. And if you see that on the milk, then you know - at least know where it's coming from.

And there are some ways to judge whether or not the milk is coming from a place that means to really produce organic milk. Cornucopia¹² Institute is a group that issues a dairy scorecard. Cornucopia Institute is an activist¹³ group based in Wisconsin - has a lot of small farmers as members, and they became concerned about this and have really been banging on the drum for 10 years on this issue.

SIMON: Peter Whoriskey is a reporter with The Washington Post. Thanks so much for being with us.

WHORISKEY: Thank you.

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 aurora   

n.极光

参考例句：

• The aurora is one of nature's most awesome spectacles.极光是自然界最可畏的奇观之一。
• Over the polar regions we should see aurora.在极地高空,我们会看到极光。

3 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

4 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

6 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

7 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

9 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

10 idyllic   

adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的

参考例句：

• These scenes had an idyllic air.这种情景多少有点田园气氛。
• Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

11 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 cornucopia   

n.象征丰收的羊角

参考例句：

• The book is a cornucopia of information.书是知识的宝库。
• Our cornucopia is the human mind and heart.我们富足是由于人类的智慧和热情。

13 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。