Department ofDining & Culinary Services

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Dining & Culinary Services Serves Milk That is Local & Free of Growth Hormones

All of the milk used in The Commons is rBGH free. The milk is also produced locally, from either Smith Brothers Farms in the Kent Valley or Darigold which has always been a proud NW dairy producer.

A little about recombinant bovine growth hormone:

Despite opposition from scientists, farmers and consumers, the US currently allows dairy cows to be injected with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), also known as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST). Today, controversy still surrounds whether or not rBGH is safe for cows and humans.

Did You Know?

Cows injected with rBGH need more feed to produce milk at such demanding levels - that means more farmland planted with feed and more pollutants into the atmosphere. Planting, pesticide sprays, harvest and transport pollutes the soil and water. Around 10 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer, in addition to other pollutants, are introduced into fields and waterways every year to feed CAFO cows.

Milk from rBGH-treated cows contains higher levels of IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor-1). Humans also naturally have IGF-1, and increased levels in humans have been linked to colon and breast cancer. Even though no direct connection has been made between elevated IGF-1 levels in milk and elevated IGF-1 levels or cancer in humans, some scientists have expressed concern over the possibility of this relationship.

Contact
Department of Dining & Culinary Services
253-535-7472
253-536-5138 (Fax)
University Center 270
Tacoma, WA 98447-0003