Kroger Co. to rid stores of milk with synthetic hormones


Associated Press


ST. LOUIS — One of the nation's largest retail grocery chains has announced plans to switch to milk free of synthetic hormones.

The announcement Wednesday from Kroger Co. is another blow to Monsanto Co., which already had been reducing inventory of its milk production-boosting hormone as Starbucks Coffee Co. and other retailers rejected it.

Monsanto, based in suburban St. Louis, markets the hormone rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin, under the brand name Posilac. The Food and Drug Administration and the company insist the hormone is safe.

Kroger, based in Cincinnati, said consumer preference — not safety concerns — prompted their decision.

The retailer began moving toward rBST-free milk this year in Louisiana and Texas stores.

By February, Kroger plans to sell only milk certified as free of synthetic hormones at the 2,458 supermarkets and multi-department stores it operates in 31 states under two dozen local names.

The Center for Food Safety, a Washington-based nonprofit that opposes Monsanto's biotech crops and Posilac, applauded the decision.

"It is based on informed opinion and demonstrated consumer preferences: Kroger is being responsive to customers' needs," the group said in a statement.

Monsanto acknowledges its Posilac business has been affected as companies demand milk free of synthetic hormones. In its most recent quarterly financial report, Monsanto said that it will continue this year to reduce bulk powder inventory of Posilac, and that it believes some requests for rBST-free milk "will limit our future sales."

"With higher milk prices these days, it's disappointing that (Posilac) production technology — which can add efficiency at the farm gate and have a direct impact on consumer costs — is being denied," Monsanto spokesman Andrew Burchett said Friday.

All this talk of hormones in the things that we eat and drink got me thinking... I wonder if all of this is the cause of my 9 y/o dd looking like she is physically 13 or so? I was a tall girl at her age too, but I wasn't developed like she is!

I think it's exactly why girls and boys both are developing at younger ages, but mostly girls because of the extra female hormones they give cows to produce milk, and chickens to produce eggs, and pigs to produce more piglets and all that. I mean.. it's rediculous that our demnd has gotten so large that they feel the need to artificially increase our supply.

I think it's exactly why girls and boys both are developing at younger ages, but mostly girls because of the extra female hormones they give cows to produce milk, and chickens to produce eggs, and pigs to produce more piglets and all that. I mean.. it's rediculous that our demnd has gotten so large that they feel the need to artificially increase our supply.

yep i said the same thing to harrison today that is probably the reason we have 8 year olds getting periods.

yep i said the same thing to harrison today that is probably the reason we have 8 year olds getting periods.

yep, no doubt in my mind thats the reason. it's gross and sad that they have to add those things into what we eat and drink. thats why, for the most part, i try to buy organic and hormone/cage free products. although its hard lol bc it gets so dang expensive sometimes!

I heard it was the reason girls are maturing earlier in age. I don't get why the FDA has allowed so much in our foods to alter them. Why can't we go back to a healthy country.

Its all a plaw to get us to the doctor and its a viscious circle

Yes, studies have shown that the hormones in our milk, chicken, & beef are leading our children to develop faster. For chicken they put in hormones that will make the breast tissue grow faster. Then people wonder why boys are developing breasts & girls are growing breasts at the young ages of 6, 7, & 8.

Good for Kroger making a small step towards hormone free foods.

I only buy organic milk now. $6 a gallon, but to me it's worth it. The taste is way better too. i urge everyone to try it at least once, you won't go back.

I only buy organic milk now. $6 a gallon, but to me it's worth it. The taste is way better too. i urge everyone to try it at least once, you won't go back.
WHOA where are you living! It is not nearly that much here in AZ. :grin:

I feel really bad for the people who live deep in the city, unlike us...

We have so many different kinds of foods available to us on the farm.. my kid can milk a cow, or a goat like nobody's bizznass..

Our milk in the fridge is either in a pitcher straight from grandpa's house, or in a glass jar right from the milkman who stops daily at grandpa's house, and ours.. I have a hard time drinking milk from the store, it tastes like water, there's no flavor..

It's weird, some people think that milkmans died out with black and white TVs, but they make their daily rounds up here..

I feel really bad for the people who live deep in the city, unlike us...

We have so many different kinds of foods available to us on the farm.. my kid can milk a cow, or a goat like nobody's bizznass..

Our milk in the fridge is either in a pitcher straight from grandpa's house, or in a glass jar right from the milkman who stops daily at grandpa's house, and ours.. I have a hard time drinking milk from the store, it tastes like water, there's no flavor..

It's weird, some people think that milkmans died out with black and white TVs, but they make their daily rounds up here..

In Engladn we had a milkman glass bottles & everything. I used to love the tiny glass bottles we had at school for snack time they were kind of lukewarm and the cream was on top SO yummy.

In Engladn we had a milkman glass bottles & everything. I used to love the tiny glass bottles we had at school for snack time they were kind of lukewarm and the cream was on top SO yummy.


YES!!!! WITH THE CREAM ON TOP!!!!! You have to shake it and stuff???

I wish everyone knew what that was like... It's kinda something that we take for granted, around here, it's just how it's always been... Anytime we go to grandpa's, DS has to go out in the barn and get a bucket of milk for us to take home..

What's happened to the world? Or are we just really backwoods? :lol

YES!!!! WITH THE CREAM ON TOP!!!!! You have to shake it and stuff???

I wish everyone knew what that was like... It's kinda something that we take for granted, around here, it's just how it's always been... Anytime we go to grandpa's, DS has to go out in the barn and get a bucket of milk for us to take home..

What's happened to the world? Or are we just really backwoods? :lol

Yes you shake it up OR if you were being bad you ate the cream from the top leaving skim milk for everyone else in the house. I always shook my milk up at school though.

I buy my organic milk at Walmart and it can be more than $7 a gallon at the other stores. It sucks. Still worth it to me though! Taste cant be beat.

When I buy the whole milk for Tandis, I skim the cream off the top, put it in the freezer container with the other bits I have collected (like 1/4 cup each 1/2 gallon I buy) and then I whip it up and make it into whipped cream when I have enough.

Here a gallon is about $4-$5 bucks for organic whole milk. That is at Trader Joes, or Wild Oats too. You should try Trader Joes MUCH cheaper for organics.

Yes you shake it up OR if you were being bad you ate the cream from the top leaving skim milk for everyone else in the house. I always shook my milk up at school though.


My kid does that all the time :lol He loves the cream..

TJ's is over 4 hours away from me :( I miss it so much from CA

oh that is a bummer!

yeah organic foods out here are a JOKE! Last year you could only get organic carrots in the produce section. That was all for organics. Pathetic huh?

That is crappy you should look up any CSA's that might be in your area or CO-OP's. Just google CSA's or Food CO-OP and see what you get.

Good for Kroger!!!! This really is one company that does think more about their cutomers than most....and I am not saying that because my sister works for them:P.....I really wish that they had one in northern VA.

we buy cage free/free range eggs and organic milk when the option is there