IDFA's collaborative and successful efforts to extend the industry's third-party international certification pilot program were recognized in June with an honor award from the Food and Drug Administration. As members of the industry team that worked on the pilot program, Clay Hough, IDFA senior group vice president, and Philippe Caradec of The Dannon Company received FDA's Leveraging Collaboration Award "for precedent setting, collaborative effort in order to maximize federal and state resources while maintaining NCIMS standards for imported Grade A milk and milk products."

As a result of industry teamwork, the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments agreed earlier this year to extend the Grade A International Certification pilot program to evaluate whether private certifiers can be used instead of state regulators to effectively inspect and rate dairy farms and plants against Grade A standards. A total of 19 team members, representing FDA, the Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, several state agriculture departments and the National Milk Producers Federation, received the award.