A recent publication in Bloomberg Businessweek reported that giant retail companies Wal-Mart, Costco, and Target are facing lawsuits for mislabeling organic milk.
Both companies are suspected of buying milk from the Aurora Dairy Corporation and selling the milk under the retailers store brand labels. The consumers are seeking unspecified compensatory damages for allegedly buying the organic milk, even though it wasn’t truly organic. The fact that the producers of the milk misrepresented the manner in which the dairy cows were raised and fed violated various state regulations concerning organic products. Wal-Mart and Target haven’t made clear statements about the case, refused to comment or denied the allegations.
The fact that both retailers are facing lawsuits shows the true difficulty of maintaining business ethics in a large corporation. It is unknown if the retailers knew about the producer’s actions, but as the final ends of the supply chains they are held responsible for the misconduct.
As science and taste prove over and over again, organic product are healthier, have better nutritional values and taste better… The retailers have been able to take advantage of those who seek organic products and are willing to pay at times double the price for an organic product. Thus increasing their profits in an unethical way.
What shows greatest ethical misconduct was the way the companies have been handling the case. Denying or refusing to comment when their good name is on the line will end up hurting the companies by far more than accepting the allegations and pulling out the non organic supposedly organic milk.
Written by Michael Milner
Article source:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-15/wal-mart-target-must-face-organic-milk-label-suit.html
It is definitely very important for these companies to simply come clean about their false labeling, because failing to do so will cause them much more damage later on. Right now, they are gambling with the trust of the consumer - consumers want to know that what they think they buy is also what they actually get. In the case of the milk, consumers aren't getting what they initially believe. In effect, the stores are practically stealing from consumers who are paying for a higher quality product that is not actually higher quality. In order to maintain consumer-retailer trust, I believe some apologies and possible refunds would be necessary - perhaps a coupon for organic milk. Until something is done, the companies will be walking a very fine, dangerous line that could determine whether or not people will ever return to their markets to shop again.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Reeves