FDA Allows Labels for Milk From Cows Not Given Hormone
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WASHINGTON — Stores and dairies can label milk as coming from cows not treated with a controversial new hormone, but the labels can’t suggest the milk is any safer than that from treated animals, the government said Monday.
In guidelines to be published today, the Food and Drug Administration said companies may label milk, ice cream and other dairy products as coming from “cows not treated with” recombinant bovine somatotropin.
But the label also would have to carry a statement like, “No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-treated and non-rbST-treated cows,” the agency said.
The genetically engineered version of the naturally occurring hormone went on the market Friday.
The agency said labels could not carry the claim that milk is “bST-free” because the hormone occurs naturally in milk.
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