NCIMS Posts Dairy Inspection Documents
March 4, 2020
After months of work, the National Council on Interstate Milk Shipments posted two documents regarding the Dairy Inspection Pilot Program on Feb. 24. The pilot program began last month and will run until December in nine participating states. The pilot program offers two options for the inspections:
- Establish a federal-state partnership in which individual states co-regulate all non-Grade “A” products processed in Interstate Milk Shipment-listed facilities located in the state. During the check rating, the Milk Specialist will verify the state has adequately covered the non-Grade “A” PC requirements which will then count toward the federally mandated limited scope PC inspection or;
- All IMS- listed facilities receive and Appendix T audit by an FDA Milk Specialist on the check rating interval.
The pilot offers a chance to explore options to achieve inspectional efficiencies between the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) and Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
In 2018, FDA tried back-to-back inspections, first a PMO inspection, followed by an FSMA inspection. Plant personnel described that as an overwhelming experience and NMPF urged the FDA not to conduct inspections that way in the future. Once the pilot is completed, FDA and the NCIMS Liaison Committee will assess the pilot outcomes and present the findings at the 2021 NCIMS conference. NMPF is pleased with the outcome of the partnership between the NCIMS Liaison Committee and FDA in getting the pilot program up and running.
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