Labeling & Standards

IDFA provides comprehensive information to members on a wide variety of issues related to dairy product labeling claims and federal standards of identity. In this section, you'll find guidance regarding international, federal and local labeling rules on food health claims, nutrition content, trans fat, compositional claims and food allergens.

This section also details IDFA's efforts to modernize the federal standards of identity and the petitions that are pending with the Food and Drug Administration regarding updates to standards for dairy products.

Recent Highlights

Protecting Member Rights to Label

In a victory for IDFA and members this spring, then Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill that would have placed labeling restrictions on dairy products using milk from cows not treated with rbST. Leading a coalition of manufacturers, IDFA actively opposed the bill and sent a letter to the governor asking for the veto.

In Ohio, IDFA joined with the Organic Trade Association to challenge the legality of the state's rule restricting absence claims on labels for dairy products from cows that have not been treated with artificial growth hormones. While under consideration, the lawsuit has accomplished three goals:

  1. Several other states pulled proposed bills restricting absence claims while the lawsuit was pending;
  2. Other efforts proposing restrictive labeling were tamped down before they reached state legislators, regulators and courts in other states;
  3. Producers and processors adapted to new marketing conditions, making new legislation and litigation less likely.

    4. Communicating to Consumers

    IDFA was a strong supporter of a final rule that gives milk and dairy processors a powerful tool to tout the role that calcium and Vitamin D together play in reducing the risk of osteoporosis. IDFA worked hard to encourage FDA to simplify product label information and make it more friendly to consumers.

    The Codex Alimentarius Commission last summer agreed to allow processors to continue to use scientific information, such as emerging research on health and nutrition, in marketing and on labels for products sold in countries that use the international standards. IDFA worked hard to gain this exemption from a new standard definition of labeling that includes commercial communications.

    Encouraging Innovation

    IDFA welcomed the release this year of a proposed rule that would change the outdated standards of identity for yogurt. For years, IDFA stressed the need to modernize the standards so they could accommodate new technology for food ingredients and processing methods, as well as consumer preferences.

    IDFA successfully protected milk's image in schools by advocating that beverage substitutes in school feeding programs must meet the nutritional value of milk. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the programs, included this language in its final rule, which became effective last fall.

    IDFA effectively opposed a petition for a restrictive gelato standard in California that would have stifled product innovation and development, as well as interstate commerce.

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