The National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) will consider 63 proposals to change Grade A plant and farm regulations in the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) at its biennial meeting, April 19-24, in Indianapolis. These proposals affect all dairy plants producing Grade A products, such as fluid milk, cream products, yogurt, cottage cheese, eggnog, buttermilk and many dried dairy products.
IDFA has submitted one proposal and is tracking seven others that are key issues for Milk Industry Foundation and National Cheese Institute members.
“The meeting is a valuable venue for bringing together dairy industry partners, state regulators and Food and Drug Administration officials to consider the public health impact and technical aspects of proposed changes to the PMO and other interstate milk shippers regulations," said Cary Frye, IDFA vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs and NCIMS program committee chair. “Our members will be actively engaged in serving on committees, voting as members of Councils, representing the industry on the Executive Board and assisting with advocating for effective regulations changes that are not overly burdensome.”
IDFA’s proposal seeks to clarify the information that companies must give to state regulatory agencies and FDA to affirm that a non-Grade “A” dairy ingredient meets the criteria of use “for a functional or technical effect” in the PMO. The proposal also asks for a timeframe for this review process.
A proposal by the National Milk Producers Federation requests an update to the somatic cell count threshold to reflect advances in on-farm practices and commercial standards followed by U.S. dairy producers. IDFA supports this proposal. NMPF has another proposal, which asks that all products labeled as milk or milk products, such as soy milk, almond milk or Muscle Milk, must be produced according to all PMO standards.
So far, 259 regulators and industry stakeholders have registered to attend the meeting, and more than 60 of them are MIF and NCI members. Visit the 2013 NCIMS Conference for registration and program details.
