DENVER—Aurora Organic Dairy filed a formal response Thursday to a lawsuit that accused it of labeling milk as organic without meeting federal organic standards.
The Boulder-based dairy has repeatedly denied the claims. It said in a response filed Thursday in U.S. District Court that its products and operations have always been certified organic under U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations.
The dairy is one of the nation’s largest organic milk producers and supplies several major grocery chains.
The dairy recently agreed to change some of its practices after the USDA found more than a dozen violations of organic standards, including the finding that cows had little access to pasture. The dairy was put on probation for a year but kept its organic certification.
The lawsuit filed in Denver by Colorado residents Rebecca and Fernando Freyre is one of nearly a dozen like it filed around the country.
