National Milk Producers Federation

NMPF Comments on AMS Program

In August 2011, the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS), Dairy Programs released a draft of the “European Health Certification Program” to dairy industry trade associations and their members for review and comment.

On November 1, 2011, after gathering member feedback, NMPF submitted comments and questions to USDA-AMS, expressing general support for the program and requesting additional clarification on specific points.

NMPF's comments on the draft program are available here.   The final program from USDA-AMS is available here.

Misbranded Imitation Dairy Products

On October 4, 2010, eight United States Senators sent a letter to FDA regarding misbranding of imitation dairy products, and urged them to enforce labeling regulations.

The letter was signed by Senators Feingold (D-WI), Harkin (D-IA), Johnson (D-SD), Gillibrand (N-NY), Shaheen (D-NH), Sanders (D-VT), Schumer (D-NY), and Casey (D-PA).  

Additional coverage of this issue, including the Senators' letter, was mentioned in a recent story by the Watertown (NY) Daily News.

Read the letter from the US Senators on misbranding.  Read the article from Watertown Daily News. Follow NMPF's campaign for accurate labeling of imitation dairy products.

NMPF Resources

• Misbranded Imitation Dairy Products
• Product Standards and Regulations:
  • Cheese Standards and Ultra-Filtered Milk
  • Yogurt Standards
  • Country-of-Origin Labeling
  • Organic Foods
• International Food Standards (Codex Alimentarius and International Dairy Federation)
• Somatic Cell Standards

External Resources

• USDA Grading Standards (Agricultural Marketing Service) a fee-for-service grading program available to many dairy product manufacturers. 
• 2010 Federal Standards for Dairy Foods from the Code of Federal Regulations:
  • Fluid Milk (pdf)
  • Cheeses
  • Yogurt (pdf)
  • Frozen Desserts
  • Sour Cream (pdf)