Organic bottled milk back on store shelves

Thursday, April 14, 2011

by PAT CURRIE

Eleven lines of Organic Meadow Traditions and Farm Boy organic milk were returned to store shelves this week after they were voluntarily recalled by the producer because of five incidents of glass fragments found in a batch of about 6,000 glass bottles in early April.

The withdrawal followed a public warning to avoid the products issued April 6 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

No injuries were reported because of the incidents, the CFIA reported. One was in the Ottawa area and the four others in the GTA, Organic Meadows general manager Ted Zettel said.

The recalled products, all contained in 946-millilitre glass bottles, were identified as unhomogenized whole, partly-skimmed, skimmed and chocolate milk produced by Guelph-based Organic Meadow Co-Operative Inc., bottled by Cochrane’s Dairy of Russell, near Ottawa, and marketed nationally by Organic Meadow Inc.

The 6,000 recalled bottles "were dumped. I wouldn’t want to guess what the financial loss to the co-op has been," he said.

The glass fragments were traced to a mechanical problem in the bottling process, Zettel said, adding this was the co-op’s first recall involving a CFIA inspection.

"The packaging process has been analyzed and additional monitoring procedures have been implemented . . .  We are satisfied that the mechanical failure . . . has been resolved and will not reoccur," he said.

The decision to resupply stores follows a comprehensive analysis of all production procedures at Cochrane’s Dairy, Zettel said.

The Organic Meadow glass bottles are distributed across Ontario, while Farm Boy branded product is distributed in the Ottawa region. No milk cartons, bags or any other Organic Meadow products were affected.

Organic Meadow Co-operative Inc. is a farmer co-op consisting of over 100 family farms, more than half of them located within 100 miles of downtown Toronto. BF