NMPF’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, Miquela Hanselman, explains to Dairy Radio Now listeners the changes to the federal school lunch program meal requirements just announced by USDA. The new rules will maintain a place at the table for flavored milk, while also making modest adjustments to sodium levels that won’t negatively impact cheese offerings in school meals.
Tag: regulations
NMPF’s Paul Bleiberg Outlines USDA Decision On WIC Dairy Purchases
NMPF’s Executive Vice President Paul Bleiberg gives Dairy Radio Now the background on this week’s decision by USDA to adjust spending for WIC program recipients, and how that will impact dairy purchases, including milk, as the changes are implemented.
NMPF’s Bjerga on FMMO Hearing Progress
NMPF Senior Vice President of Communications Alan Bjerga discussed progress so far at USDA’s Federal Milk Marketing Order hearing, which began last month, in an interview with RFD-TV. Testimony thus far has focused on proper pricing for milk components, an area in which dairy farmers have made significant headway in the past quarter century.
Lab-based ‘milk’ Labeling Fight Is Here
By Clay Detlefsen, Chief Counsel, NMPF
One would think that four decades’ worth of lessons would lead to some truths being learned. But as laboratory-based dairy imitators enter the marketplace, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seems poised to repeat the same mistakes it has made with plant-based beverages, in which their labels mislead consumers into confusing one thing with something very different.
At issue is a product called “Bored Cow,” which markets itself as “milk.” While the product does include a whey protein that’s the product of fermentation in a laboratory setting, other elements on its long list of exotic ingredients show what should be obvious to every consumer: This isn’t milk as nature has ever known it.
NMPF has been fighting with FDA over its lack of enforcement of dairy standards of identity for decades. What Bored Cow is doing is taking one whey protein that’s synthetically made by precision fermentation, blending that with a myriad of other food ingredients that are quite disgusting-sounding in many cases, and calling the product “dairy milk.”
That’s the wrong description for what they’re selling.
Milk has 13 essential nutrients. It contains 400 different fatty acids. It has got two categories of proteins, casein and whey, numerous micronutrients, and it’s an incredibly complex matrix that delivers an enormous nutritional package for consumers. You cannot replicate that in a laboratory. Milk is natural and it’s good for you. And you can’t duplicate what comes from a cow in a stainless steel vat.
But so far, FDA is allowing this violation of its standards of identity to persist, though finally after decades of inaction, FDA has gotten the message that consumers are confused and misled about the nutritional inferiority of most if not all plant-based milk alternatives. We are still hopeful FDA will step up and enforce its rules. Earlier this year, FDA proposed a voluntary labeling guidance in which they ask marketers of plant-based milk alternatives to voluntarily disclose their products’ nutritional offerings and, in most cases, those products’ nutritional inferiorities.
While NMPF appreciates the more explicit side-by-side comparison, the overall FDA guidance is flawed and we want it withdrawn. When it comes to Bored Cow and its one synthesized dairy protein, we are concerned that this, too, is a nutritionally inferior imitator that will mislead consumers and deliver a mediocre product that could harm human health.
One caveat that lab-based companies are using to distinguish themselves from plant-based imitators is that their products include one component of dairy milk. While that’s the case, it doesn’t change how very different in overall composition these products actually are — the same fundamental challenge that is also at the root of concerns over plant-based labeling. In both cases, processors are largely ignoring existing rules and regulations and doing whatever they want — not in the consumer’s interest but in their own. It’s sloppy, lazy marketing and it needs to stop.
As with plant-based foods, FDA needs to enforce its rules and regulations and send a clear message to the plant-based folks, and now the synthetic “milk” processors, that the dairy rules are on the books, and they, like everyone else, have to follow them. Otherwise, the integrity of the marketplace — and the FDA’s role as the protector of consumer interests — will continue to erode. That’s not what consumers deserve. And it’s completely preventable — if only, after four decades, FDA finally learns.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on July 31, 2023.
NMPF’s Bjerga Discusses Benefits of Milk-Price Modernization
NMPF Senior Vice President of Communication discusses how the Federal Milk Marketing Order Modernization plan the organization submitted to USDA this week would create a firmer foundation for the U.S. dairy industry, with farmers being paid a price that better reflects the quality of their milk and sharing their price risk more equitably with processors. Ultimately, once needed updates are fully in place, everyone will benefit from milk that’s valued appropriately across the industry, he said. Bjerga speaks with Mike Pearson on the Agriculture of America podcast.
NMPF’s Bjerga on Plant-Based vs. Lab-Based Labeling Concerns
NMPF Senior Vice President of Communications Alan Bjerga discusses the differing challenges of plant-based beverages that use dairy terms vs. lab-created dairy alternatives using a replicated dairy protein, in an interview with WEKZ radio in Janesville, WI. While plant-based beverages have widely divergent nutritional profiles, lab-based dairy does incorporate actual dairy — but doesn’t duplicate the complex interactions and processes that create a true dairy product.
FDA Guidance On Plant-Based Beverages’ Use of Dairy Terms is a First Step, NMPF Says While Calling for Complete Transparency in Labeling
In response to today’s FDA guidance on plant-based beverages, which guides manufacturers of plant-based beverages to disclose their nutrient inferiority and acknowledges the public health concern of nutritional confusion over such beverages, the National Milk Producers Federation, which has led the fight for labeling transparency, released the following statement:
From Jim Mulhern, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation:
“Today’s FDA announcement is a step toward labeling integrity for consumers of dairy products, even as it falls short of ending the decades-old problem of misleading plant-based labeling using dairy terminology. By acknowledging both the utter lack of nutritional standards prevalent in plant-based beverages and the confusion over nutritional value that’s prevailed in the marketplace because of the unlawful use of dairy terms, FDA’s proposed guidance today will provide greater transparency that’s sorely needed for consumers to make informed choices.
“Still, the decision to permit such beverages to continue inappropriately using dairy terminology violates FDA’s own standards of identity, which clearly define dairy terms as animal-based products. We reject the agency’s circular logic that FDA’s past labeling enforcement inaction now justifies labeling such beverages “milk” by designating a common and usual name. Past inaction is poor precedent to justify present and future inaction.
“Because FDA’s proposed guidance is meaningless without action, enforcement will be necessary to ensure that this limited progress is reflected on grocery shelves. For these reasons, we will continue our work in Congress to pass the DAIRY PRIDE Act, which would direct FDA to enforce its own rules and clarify that dairy terms are for true dairy products, not plant-based imposters.
“FDA’s last three Senate-confirmed commissioners — from both parties — have each acknowledged the problem of consumer confusion over nutritional content created by beverage labels that use dairy terms to imply qualities they simply don’t have. Medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, concur with this concern. Today’s proposed guidance at least recognizes this reality: That nutritionally inconsistent concoctions of water, factory-processed powders and other additives simply don’t contain the same nutrition that milk provides.
“As the agency entrusted with protecting consumers from mislabeled products, FDA’s action here takes a step in that direction. And after more than four decades of efforts that have often fallen on deaf ears, we appreciate that today’s agency leadership is beginning to treat plant-based beverage labeling more like the critical issue of nutrition and agency integrity that it is.
“We also would like to thank consumers, who sales data show drank fewer fake dairy beverages in 2022 than in 2021, part of a broader awakening to the bogus marketing of fake milk manufacturers that have been accepted uncritically for far too long. Despite the misinformation spun in advertisements and media, consumers are seeing through the marketing and recognizing these beverages for the fakes that they are. But consumers shouldn’t have to make choices in a marketplace that’s less than fully transparent, and until the federal government fully lives up to its mission, NMPF will continue to lead the battle for labeling transparency.”
For more NMPF discussion of the misleading use of dairy terms on plant-based beverages, see:
https://www.nmpf.org/the-plant-based-lie-that-needs-to-die/
https://www.nmpf.org/say-it-loud-say-it-clear-the-plant-based-beverage-bust-is-here/
https://www.nmpf.org/dairy-wins-on-facts-in-looming-lab-based-labeling-battle/
https://www.nmpf.org/plant-based-higher-cost-lower-quality-be-sure-to-tell-your-barista/
https://www.nmpf.org/fdas-proven-it-can-do-its-job-on-fake-milk-it-can-do-it-again/
https://www.nmpf.org/dairy-defined-the-over-hyped-shift-to-plant-based-beverages/
NMPF, IDFA Seek to Fix WIC Proposal that Would Decrease Access to Dairy’s Nutrients
ARLINGTON, Va. and WASHINGTON, DC – Representing dairy farmers, cooperatives, and processors, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) issued the following joint statement in response to USDA’s proposed changes to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) released today:
“It is unfortunate for WIC participants that the proposed rule would decrease access to dairy products and the unique nutrient profile they provide, especially considering the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) note that a staggering nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population does not consume enough dairy to meet dietary recommendations. At a time of rising food costs and high food insecurity, we should focus on increasing access to a wide variety of healthful, nutrient-dense, and affordable foods, including both fresh produce and dairy products. It’s disappointing that the proposed rule would limit WIC family purchasing power for nutritious dairy foods, particularly at a time like this.
“WIC is central to helping ensure pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children have access to the nutrients needed for growth and development at the critical life stages surrounding pregnancy, birth, and early childhood. The vast body of nutrition science demonstrates that nutritious dairy products like milk, yogurt, cheese, and cottage cheese are especially important in the diets of women, infants, and children. Dairy is a source of 13 nutrients, including three of the four nutrients of public health concern as noted by the DGA, which is why dairy has always played a significant role in the WIC program.
“NMPF and IDFA commend USDA for suggesting approaches to make the nutrient-dense food provided by the WIC program more accessible, including expanded options for yogurt and cheese varieties and for proposing WIC participants be able to purchase these dairy products in a wider variety of product package sizes that are more commonly found in grocery stores. We also applaud USDA for its continued commitment to nutritional equivalency in substitute products, rejecting those that do not provide an equivalent nutrition package, as recommended by the DGA.
“We look forward to working with USDA to modernize the WIC food package for eligible families to access nutrient-dense milk, yogurt, and cheese varieties that are a part of their everyday diets and accessible in neighborhood stores, thus fulfilling the program’s nutritional objectives. IDFA, NMPF, and our members will advocate against reducing the amount of nutritious dairy foods provided through WIC in USDA’s final rule because we are committed to reducing food insecurity, malnutrition, and diet-related disease while improving health outcomes by making it easier for all Americans to access healthy, affordable foods, including nutritious dairy products. We hope USDA will work to achieve these same objectives as they develop a final WIC rule, which, given dairy’s unique nutrient package and incomparable role in nourishing WIC participants, will require USDA not to decrease access to dairy in the WIC program.”
NMPF Urges Sped-Up FDA Approval of Climate Friendly Feed Additives
ARLINGTON, VA — NMPF called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use existing legal authority to modernize its regulations allowing for faster approval of animal-feed additives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, submitting comments to the agency today that highlighted the need for urgent action to enhance dairy’s role as a climate solution.
“Innovative and voluntary solutions are needed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including methane,” said Dr. Jamie Jonker, NMPF’s chief science officer, in the comments submitted today. “Enteric emissions directly from cows currently account for roughly one third of all GHG emissions from dairy farms and present an important area of opportunity for methane reductions. Feed composition changes can directly or indirectly reduce enteric emissions resulting from livestock.”
While animal-feed additives are a promising path toward a net-zero future for dairy as outlined in industry goals, the pace of their approval lags that of competitors such as the European Union due to current FDA processes. By streamlining bureaucracy and allowing feed-additives to be treated as foods rather than as drugs, the United States can maintain and advance its global leadership in sustainability, Jonker wrote.
Through the U.S. Dairy Net Zero Initiative, a collaboration across dairy organizations, dairy-farm research is advancing new technology and new market development opportunities to make sustainability practices more accessible and affordable to farms of all sizes, including enteric methane reduction.
“One of the greatest opportunities that exists for U.S. dairy farmers is their ability to provide real solutions to many of today’s biggest environmental challenges like GHG emissions,” Jonker wrote. “Embracing new practices and technologies is key to making America’s dairy farmers an environmental solution while providing wholesome and nutritious dairy products to the U.S. and the world.”
For more on how dairy is advancing its stewardship and best practices, visit the National Dairy FARM (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) Program’s Environmental Stewardship page.
NMPF’s Larson on White House Nutrition Conference
The U.S. dairy industry has a long-standing commitment to the nutrition and health of the nation. Ensuring that people have consistent and equitable access to the nutrition they need is a key priority for the National Milk Producers Federation, just like the recent White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.
Claudia Larson, NMPF senior director of government relations, tells the National Association of Farm Broadcasters that most people know that dairy is nutritious, but not everybody knows the details of dairy’s potential in fighting nutrition insecurity.
NMPF’s Bjerga on Back to School (and Milk)
NMPF Senior Vice President of Communications Alan Bjerga discusses the importance of milk to school nutrition programs in an interview with RFD- TV. According to consumer data, about 80 percent of the milk consumed by school-age children at home is whole or 2 percent milkfat varieties, neither of which are part of federal school nutrition programs.
NMPF’s Detlefsen on the False Promises of ‘Lab-based’ Dairy
Much like plant-based imitators, precision fermentation technology is a sector working to create so-called animal-free dairy products. However, Clay Detlefsen, National Milk Producers Federation Senior Vice President and Staff Counsel, says a real dairy product cannot be made with precision fermentation technology. “We’re seeing a lot of folks right now really misleading the public as to what they’re doing. You cannot make a real dairy product with fermentation technology,” he said in an interview with the National Association of Farm Broadcasters.
