Make no mistake, friends — we’re talking about a very serious problem in the organic food industry when well-known brands like Wal-Mart, Costco — and even worse, the USDA — start seeing problems with organic food rule violations starting to crop up. It’s not even intended to smear the reputations of such brands, but here’s the thing: it’s pretty darn hard to keep regulations going for a market that’s so huge and tied together. Here. We’ll explain:

Aurora Organic Dairy Is the Supposed Culprit for Obvious Reasons: the Cows in Which Their Products Come From

Wal-Mart and Costco are particularly known for their major milk supplier, Aurora Organic Dairy, but it turns out that the company was found to violate rules of organic food policy in organic milk production for one obvious reason. Their cows aren’t organic either. The milk might go through the organic process, but the cows aren’t grass-fed or even free from antibiotics due to sickness or other debilitating conditions that would otherwise be naturally occurring or even genetic.

It’s understandable, obviously. You want to maintain milk production, you do what you can, your cows can’t always be free of radicals or whatnot, and the ultimate underlying truth is that as long as you produce a quality product, ensure you don’t add any non-organics into that product, technically, your milk can still be considered organic and stamped with an approval from the USDA.

Call it a “domino effect” if you will. Sure, the cows — and the beef going with it — wouldn’t be organic in quality. This ultimately means the milk they produce won’t be as well, and there’s no way around it. Even if the milk is still natural. It’s still not considered organic, and here’s why:

Aurora Organic Dairy Was Actually Tested to Measure Their Organic Milk for Two Specific Fats

Grass-fed, completely organic, cows have one differentiated characteristic — their milk represents two essential fats not found in conventional milk. After testing, it turned out that Aurora Organic dairy products were missing those two essential fats for the most part. Bad news on the part of the USDA, which should be on the up-and-up as far as inspections to ensure that their label, their “organic quality” is what it says it is.

The fact is the USDA’s stretched beyond belief already. They rely on what has been called an “unusual system of inspections” relying on a “private inspector” approved by the organization and left to its own devices. It’s not enough when you have a huge supply chain of more than 31K farms and businesses all over the world.

The USDA has only 82 certified inspection firms. That’s it. You can see now that it’s not enough. Some inspections will undoubtedly miss the mark, and brands like Aurora Organic Dairy suffer — and consequently, so will we (and retail brands like Wal-Mart and Costco will suffer, too!).

It’s a Sad Fact for the Organic Food Market and the USDA, But What Do You Expect?

The organic food market is growing at an alarming rate. And we’re all struggling to catch up. Including the USDA. The great news is you can avoid all of that by signing up for Golden Gate Organics. You want true organic-quality groceries for your kitchen? You can get it right here. We can only hope great brands like Aurora Organic Dairy, Wal-Mart, Costco — and, of course, the USDA — can catch up as well as the market continues to swell.