Dairy and Soy Giant Dean Foods Buys European Soy Company

Dean Foods, the largest US dairy producer, announced this morning that it will purchase the Alpro division of Belgium's Vandemoortele NV soy company for about $455 million. The move comes about five years after Dean Foods acquired both Horizon Organic and Silk soy milk.

The Cornucopia Institute and the Organic Consumers Association recently called for a boycott of Silk, because since the Dean acquisition, most Silk products have switched from certified organic to "natural" (conventional).

Here's what the Cornucopia Institute has to say about Dean Foods:

Consumers who wish to avoid supporting animal factory farms and the companies involved in such inhumane animal “farming” should avoid Silk, owned by Dean Foods. Dean is involved heavily in conventional dairy production from factory farms and also owns Horizon, which owns an 8000-cow “organic” factory farm. They also buy from other organic factory dairies, a matter which is highly contentious in the organic community. Many of the private-label soymilks on the market are packaged by companies involved mainly in dairy.

-Mark