NMPF was asked to present the current status of the long battle against plant-based food companies’ misleading and inappropriate use of dairy terminology on dairy substitutes and alternative at FDA’s Eastern Milk Seminar on Oct. 29.

The seminar was held from Oct. 28–30 in Madison, Wisconsin and was attended by several hundred state and federal milk regulators with additional representation from the dairy producing and processing community.  The three-day seminar covered a variety of topics including a review of actions taken at the 2019 National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments, pathogen control for dairy processing plants, farm inspections and a host of other topics.

NMPF’s Clay Detlefsen, began his presentation with the history of NMPF’s crusade against illegally labeled dairy substitutes, which began in the late 1970s.  After that, he shared consumer research that clearly shows that purchasers of plant-based products are clearly confused about the nutritional inferiority of those products when compared to dairy.  He then explained NMPF’s Citizen Petition and how plant-based products should be labeled and why FDA requiring plant-based food companies to follow the rules does not violate the 1^st Amendment.

The audience was interested and engaged during the presentation and afterwards, Mr. Detlefsen received numerous expressions of gratitude and well wishes for the work NMPF has engaged in on this issue over the years. State officials are clearly frustrated with FDA’s lack of enforcement of standards of identity and want FDA to take long overdue action to end the nonsense that exists in the marketplace.

Last month, NMPF celebrated the introduction of the bipartisan Responsible & Efficient Agriculture Destination (TREAD) Act by Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Lloyd Smucker (R-PA).  The measure will give milk haulers more flexibility to move bulk milk from the farm to the plant by adding a new 150 air-mile exemption to the back end of a trip.

“Milk is a highly perishable commodity that can now travel a longer journey from farm to plant as the dairy sector has evolved.  Therefore, it is critical to maintain a flexible regulatory climate for milk hauling.  We thank Reps. Angie Craig and Lloyd Smucker for their bipartisan bill to increase the hours of service exemption for agriculture – this measure will provide welcome relief to dairy producers across the country,” said Jim Mulhern, President and CEO, National Milk Producers Federation.

Dairy farmers and haulers of other ag commodities have faced added regulatory strain in recent years with the implementation of a mandate that commercial motor vehicles be equipped with electronic logging devices (ELDs) if they move commodities and other goods beyond a certain distance.  This targeted legislation will provide relief from this mandate to many milk haulers who must transport bulk milk over longer distances than previously but will still come nowhere close to exceeding the drive time limits under hours of service rules.

NMPF looks forward to working with Reps. Craig and Smucker to advance this bill as part of highway legislation that Congress may take up next year.  The bill sponsors both serve on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and are well-positioned to advance this bill in a bipartisan way.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Oct. 23 that they plan to work cooperatively with manufacturers during the first six months following the Jan. 1, 2020, compliance date for the new Nutrition Facts label requirements for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual sales. In addition to working cooperatively, FDA won’t focus on enforcement during the first six months, giving manufacturers more time to comply. The decision comes after several manufacturers requested more time to meet the new requirements. 

Issued on May 3, 2018, the final rule includes various changes to nutrition facts panels to promote healthier food choices. These changes included: stating the number of servings in larger and bolder font; more prominently featuring calorie amounts; updating recommended daily values, changing the nutrients required to be listed as well as the actual amounts of nutrients declared; a new footnote explaining percentage daily values; and a line listing the amount of added sugar.

An EPA meeting on water-quality trading Oct. 21 received a heavy dose of dairy’s strong support for National Milk on market-based solutions to environmental challenges. NMPF regulatory chief Clay Detlefsen was joined by Steve Rowe, president and CEO of Newtrient, and Bruce Knight, principal and founder of Strategic Solutions, all testified about dairy’s support of EPA’s efforts to create a demand for water quality trading programs

National Milk has a long history of supporting water quality trading, serving on the steering committee of the National Network on Water Quality Trading that published “Building a Water Quality Trading Program: Options and Considerations” and “Breaking Down Barriers: Priority Actions for Advancing Water Quality Trading.” National Milk has also been involved with Maryland’s effort to launch a water quality trading program and Pennsylvania water-quality procurement legislation.

At the meeting, NMPF stated its strong support for EPA’s efforts to promote water quality improvements at a lower cost than traditional regulatory approaches, agreeing with EPA that the Clean Water Act allows for pollutant reductions from water quality trading to achieve compliance with regulatory requirements.

Detlefsen also said NMPF appreciated EPA for its efforts this year to update their water quality trading policy to encourage technologies and practices that reduce nonpoint source pollution.  NMPF also concurred with the six principals laid out in the 2019 Memorandum, namely:

• States, tribes and stakeholders should consider implementing water quality trading and other market-based programs on a watershed scale.
• EPA encourages the use of adaptive strategies for implementing market-based programs.
• Water quality credits and offsets may be banked for future use.
• A single project may generate credits for multiple markets.
• Financing opportunities exist to assist with deployment of nonpoint land use practices.
• Encouraging simplicity and flexibility in implementing baseline concepts

National Milk will submit written comments to more fully address the issues and questions raised in the meeting’s Federal Register notice.

NMPF submitted comments Sept. 30 to the revised voluntary sugar reduction targets from the National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative, emphasizing that while the revised sugar targets were more suitable for flavored milk and yogurt, dairy products still should not be lumped in with the other sugary products included.

The National Salt and Sugar Initiative is a partnership between local, state, and national health organizations convened by the NYC Health Department. Following the same format as earlier goals for sodium reduction, the sugar initiative will set targets and monitor sugar levels in packaged foods and beverages, which contribute the most added sugars to human diets.

In the first set of comments submitted in response to the initial draft, NMPF pointed out that it was necessary to account for lactose, the natural-occurring sugar in milk. In a positive outcome for dairy, the natural-occurring sugars were accounted for by creating an allowance that raised the target levels in this draft of sugar targets so the benchmarks are more focused on added sugars.

Other key points in NMPF’s comments included:

• Products falsely labeled as plant-based yogurt shouldn’t be included in the yogurt category, nor should they be given a natural sugar allowance.
• Plant-based beverages shouldn’t be given a natural sugar allowance.
• The varying range of added sugar found in yogurt and that the target set isn’t representative of the marketplace.

The FDA released on September 23 draft Guidance for Industry #263 (GFI #263) “Recommendations for Sponsors of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs Approved for Use in Animals to Voluntarily Bring Under Veterinary Oversight All Products That Continue to be Available Over-the-Counter.”

FDA’s intent with GFI #263 is for animal drug pharmaceutical manufacturers to voluntarily change the marketing status of the remaining approved animal drugs containing antimicrobials of human medical importance from over-the-counter (OTC) to prescription (Rx) under the oversight of licensed veterinarians. This draft guidance comes as part of the FDA’s five-year plan for supporting antimicrobial stewardship in veterinary settings as part of a strategy to address antimicrobial resistance associated with the use of antimicrobial drugs in animal agriculture.

GFI #213 was the FDA’s first step to increase oversight of antimicrobial use through voluntary industry action to change marketing status of medically important antimicrobials used in feed or drinking water for food-producing animals from OTC to VFD/Rx. This also resulted in the elimination of the use of these antimicrobials for production practices. While GFI #263 will be voluntary, NMPF anticipates that pharmaceutical manufacturers will change the marketing status of the limited number of dosage forms of medically important antimicrobials that are still available from OTC to Rx for both food-producing and companion animals.

NMPF has recognized that OTC availability of antimicrobials was going away and has made the Veterinarian Client Patient Relationship, a cornerstone of the National Dairy FARM Animal Care Program. NMPF supports the prudent and responsible use of antibiotics and will be examining the potential impact on small or geographically isolated dairy farmers who may have a lack of large animal veterinary services where they are located.

NMPF will submit comments to the docket.

NMPF participated Oct. 1 in a joint press conference with the National Pork Producers Council, the National Corn Growers Association and Iowa State University to urge the USDA to quickly spend mandatory funding included in the 2018 Farm Bill to buy enough vaccine to effectively contain and eradicate an FMD outbreak.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency announced in August initial plans to carry out new animal health activities using resources provided by the 2018 Farm Bill. Section 12101 of the law established a three-part program to comprehensively support animal disease prevention and management. The bill included funding to create two new programs: The National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank (vaccine bank) and the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP). It also expanded funding opportunities for the existing National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN).

These 2018 FARM Bill programs were initially identified in 2014 as priorities for Food and Mouth Disease (FMD) preparedness by the NMPF Animal Health and Wellbeing Committee. NMPF worked with a coalition of other stakeholders to obtain new funding in the 2018 FARM Bill for FMD preparedness.

“The time to build a best-in-class FMD Vaccine Bank is now,” said Jamie Jonker, Ph.D., vice president for Sustainability & Scientific Affairs at NMPF, at the news conference. “NMPF has been active in informing our members and the dairy community of the importance of preparation, and a vaccine bank is a crucial element of protection for the entire livestock industry.”

Every year, the USTR solicits comments from stakeholders on trade barriers to help shape their annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. NMPF, in conjunction with USDEC, prepared an extensive review of trade policies hindering dairy exports to key markets.

NMPF is urging the U.S. government to continue its pursuit of fair and reciprocal trade agreements, while also cautioning them against using valuable resources to negotiate trade deals that will not yield agricultural benefits for the U.S. NMPF’s comments cover many detailed issues, including the importance of passing USMCA, the need to fully resolve the trade dispute with China, the trade imbalance driven by the EU’s unfair trade policies and FTAs, new technical regulations in the Gulf, and much more.

NMPF’s goal for this document is that it will inform and guide the USTR during trade negotiations and encourage them to make dairy’s needs a priority in any future deals.

Strengthening their commitment to promoting dairy trade between their nations, the U.S. and Mexican dairy industries held their fourth annual meeting in Torreón, Mexico in October, discussing the importance of finalizing USMCA, addressing concerns regarding a proposal mandating front-of-packaging nutrition labeling in Mexico and reaffirming their commitment to advancing shared priorities.

NMPF, USDEC and organizations representing dairy producers and processors in Mexico attended the meeting. The U.S. and Mexican industries released a joint statement following the summit, including a multi-point pledge to protect and promote dairy.

“The dairy industries of Mexico and the United States are proud to be among the world’s leading providers of wholesome and nutritious dairy products. We help feed communities around the globe while driving economic growth and bringing myriad positive benefits to each of our respective nations. We salute the hard work of the dairy farmers and processors in both Mexico and the United States who produce superior dairy products in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” they wrote.

The annual country-to-country meeting came as the U.S. awaits congressional passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Mexico has already passed the trade pact, which will help further secure the partnership shared by the U.S. and Mexico and support the important role dairy farmers play in rural economies and providing high-quality food products to consumers. NMPF will continue working with partners in Mexico to achieve these common goals for the benefit of dairy producers.

NMPF filed comments Nov. 12 to the Food and Drug Administration’s modernizing standards docket, emphasizing that in many cases so called “horizontal” changes to standards are unnecessary, and has potential for unintended consequences. NMPF cautioned FDA to not move forward with this proposal.

Horizontal standards, which would be guidelines applied to all current standards of identity as a way to modernize them all at once, were proposed at a meeting in September in which NMPF spoke of how some companies may use it to cheapen their food products, not make them healthier. “When dealing with hundreds of very different standards, and the intention is to improve one, such changes may not be transparent when applied to different foods, and stakeholders could be deprived of a proper opportunity to weigh in,” Clay Detlefsen, NMPF regulatory expert, said.

NMPF’s comments focused on why maintaining the standards of identity are necessary to meet consumers’ expectations of products, noting that innovation in food groups is already happening without horizontal standards. “Creating these horizontal standards could just allow companies to cheapen their products under the guise of innovation legally,” NMPF wrote. The full comments can be found here.

NMPF has been outspoken in its advocacy for USMCA and its benefits for dairy farmers. As this year’s congressional session draws to a close, NMPF is increasing efforts to encourage congressional leaders and USTR to come to an agreement that moves this trade pact forward.

NMPF president and CEO Jim Mulhern on Oct. 31 joined House Agriculture Committee Livestock Chairman Jim Costa and other agricultural leaders at an event on Capitol Hill to stress the importance of passing USMCA American agricultural prosperity. Together, they called on Congress to act swiftly to pass USMCA to improve our trade relationships and secure increased export opportunities.

Mulhern also penned an op-ed for Agri-Pulse that was published in conjunction with the event, writing, “The trade relationships the U.S. shares with our North American neighbors are among our most important, but they are long overdue for an upgrade. Congress has the opportunity to make that happen by passing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). With just a handful of legislative days left on the congressional calendar in 2019, there’s no time to waste and congressional action is urgently needed.”

NMPF has also been a driving force behind an effort to amplify the voice of the dairy farmer in USMCA outreach. Working closely with members and with USDEC, NMPF spearheaded and secured placement for farmer-led guest columns in the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Iowa, the Daily Star in New York, the Reading Eagle in Pennsylvania, and the Star Tribune in Minnesota.

In welcome news for the dairy economy, the September margin under the Dairy Margin Coverage program rose by $0.56 per cwt. over the August margin to reach $10.41 per cwt, the second consecutive month margins have fallen outside the threshold necessary to trigger a federal payment. The is the highest seen since the beginning of 2017, allowing for the change in the alfalfa hay price in the margin formula’s feed cost calculation. The September all-milk price was $0.40 per cwt. higher than August’s and the DMC calculated feed cost for September was $0.16 per cwt. lower than August’s, mostly due to a drop in the price of corn.

As of November 6, USDA’s DMC Decision Tool, which can be accessed online, projected the margins shown in the chart below. The DMC margin is currently projected to remain above $9.50 per cwt. for the remainder of 2019 and during all of 2020. Milk prices are expected to generate most of the monthly changes in the margin forecast, while feed costs are anticipated to remain relatively stable during that time.

The DMC information page on NMPF’s website offers a variety of educational resources to help farmers make better use of the program. NMPF also posted a new video explaining how farmers can benefit from the DMC.