NMPF Efforts Yield New USDA-FDA Partnership to Benefit Dairy Exports
November 2, 2020
USDA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish an interagency process to further support exports of U.S. dairy products. The MOU clearly defines the roles and responsibilities within each agency and leverages each agency’s individual expertise to give the U.S. dairy industry an improved platform to capitalize on new opportunities and smoothly facilitate foreign sales.
As U.S. dairy exports have risen, so have thr challenges U.S. products face in overseas markets. NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) encouraged USDA and FDA to establish a modernized and streamlined relationship in order to strengthen interagency collaboration, better engage dairy industry experts and bolster communication to more effectively address foreign barriers.
NMPF and USDEC helped both with initiating the process that ultimately resulted in the MOU, which was signed Oct. 1, and in driving it forward through meetings with government officials, letters and official comments.
“This new partnership ensures that the staff at USDA and FDA are working together in the most efficient way possible to lower barriers for our farmer’s dairy exports. Increasing U.S. dairy exports will strengthen the health of our farmers and rural communities, which is more important than ever as America’s dairy industry faces new and unprecedented challenges,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.
NMPF is encouraged by this new MOU, as continued collaboration between the U.S. dairy industry and key U.S. government agencies is necessary to advance the interests of America’s dairy farmers and farmer-owned cooperatives.
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