Erstwhile Gristmiller Sam Fromartz, true to form as an ex-reporter, has breaking news on his personal blog.

Sam reports that Dean Foods, the dominant U.S. dairy supplier (you can find a list of its many brands here) has decided not to accept milk from cloned cows, despite recent USDA approval of the stuff.

This is big news, and it puts the lie to the claim that consumer choice doesn’t influence food politics.

If Dean holds to its promise, the whole cloned-cow thing could die an ignominious death, rejected by increasingly aware consumers. Similar consumer outrage is also convincing big dairy users to stop buying milk from cows treated with Monsanto’s odious bovine growth hormones.