Message from the President
Connie Tipton
Washington is buzzing about fighting obesity and shaping up America, and the dairy industry is fully engaged.
Milk processors and producers teamed up with the National Football League and School Nutrition Association in full page ads with the calling "Let's raise a glass of milk to Michelle Obama's Let's Move! program." And while we focus on the many positives of including milk and dairy in a healthy diet, other activities in the diet and health arena could threaten the perception of our products.
In December, the Federal Trade Commission came out with an outline for new regulations on advertising foods and beverages to kids that would be so restrictive that most of our dairy products wouldn't even qualify. That rang the alarm bells with major food companies and launched efforts at the Grocery Manufacturers Association to develop a front-of-pack labeling scheme, which can be embraced voluntarily by food companies. This action is an attempt to ward off further government mandates for package declarations about such things as calories, fat, sugar and sodium contents.
Similar systems in Europe exempt dairy products, meat, fruits and vegetables, so stay tuned for updates on how this develops here and the implications for our products. But if too much emphasis is put on the negatives like fat, sodium and sugar, we could see product reformulations to reduce or eliminate dairy from many different products.
On Capitol Hill, bills are being drafted to outline steps for fighting obesity. They are focused primarily on increased physical activity to burn up more calories, which we certainly support rather that just targeting foods. The Child Nutrition Act that makes the rules for school meals is also in the works and will likely require USDA to establish guidelines in keeping with the overall Dietary Guidelines. This should be a good outcome for dairy (current Dietary Guidelines call for three servings of lowfat or fat-free dairy a day); however, the Guidelines are being revised this year.
IDFA is working on all of these fronts to get the best possible outcomes for dairy. It's important that we all stay alert on these issues and keep putting our best foot forward for dairy foods.
Connie Tipton
President and CEO
