Here at Clover we do things differently, and we wanted to be able to show you what that means.  

In 1994, Clover Stornetta Farms became the first dairy processor to elevate milk from a commodity to a specialty food by establishing the North Coast Excellence Certified (NCEC) program. NCEC standards are the strictest in the dairy industry, far surpassing the state and federal governments'.  A committee representing our dairy families and Clover governs the NCEC program. Among its tasks are defining sustainable agriculture, and identifying a new requirement the dairies are to meet each year in order to enhance sustainable agriculture practices and continue participating in the program. Clover pays our NCEC dairy producers a premium to produce milk to meet these rigorous standards.  

NCEC milk comes from small family-owned dairies in Sonoma, Marin, and Mendocino Counties that follow sustainable agriculture practices and tend small herds on spacious ranches, where the cows are well treated and healthy. These dairy families have signed contracts with us guaranteeing they do not use the controversial synthetic growth hormone, rBST. Each dairy is also visited at least once a year and judged on its appearance and ranch maintenance practices. Clover tests raw milk delivered to its plant daily to protect against antibiotic residues. The milk is also tested for bacteria, coliform and somatic cell count, to ensure Clover's customers are getting the cleanest milk possible.  

In 1994,  we took the unprecedented step of having an independent auditor verify our milk quality standards, represented by the NCEC Seal on our dairy products. The certified public accounting firm, Pisenti & Brinker, completed an examination of our NCEC program policies and procedures.  

"In our experience, most companies don't go to these lengths to verify their product claims." – Carmel Brown, Accounting & Auditing Manager, Pisenti & Brinker  

"To our knowledge, we are the only U. S. dairy processor that has made assertions on its milk quality and has had those assertions backed-up by an objective third party. Clover has those assertions audited annually." – Dan Benedetti, Chairman, Clover