The Food and Drug Administration announced today that it will initiate a pilot program that will consolidate inspection personnel for compliance evaluations at dairy processing facilities for both non-Grade “A” and Grade “A” milk and milk products. IDFA and its members fully support the idea of using FDA milk specialists to conduct both types of inspections.

Currently, FDA and state officials that are under FDA contract conduct separate inspections for non-Grade “A” milk and milk products and Grade “A” milk and milk products at dairy facilities producing both types of milk and associated products, such as cheese and ice cream. This can result in multiple regulatory visits by multiple state and federal regulators.

“Many of IDFA’s Grade “A” milk and milk product processors also produce non-Grade “A” products such as non-dairy creamers, ice cream mix or cheese at the same facility,” said Cary Frye, IDFA senior vice president of regulatory affairs. “IDFA strongly supports FDA leveraging its milk specialists to conduct compliance evaluations of milk and milk products, regardless of whether they are Grade “A” or not, to create efficiencies in utilization of inspection personnel.”

According to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, “We believe there’s more opportunity for FDA and state regulators to better coordinate oversight efforts of the dairy industry, making the process more efficient while maintaining the high safety of the U.S. milk supply."

IDFA sent a letter to FDA in September urging a revaluation of dairy plant inspection programs to provide effective and efficient oversight for Food Safety Modernization Act inspections.

Read the letter here, and read FDA’s response here.

For more information, contact Frye at cfrye@idfa.org.