The U.S. National Committee of the International Dairy Federation (US-IDF) held its annual fall meeting last week in Rosemont, Illinois, to discuss U.S. priorities on international scientific and regulatory issues. The group will present these priorities and suggested actions in IDF meetings with other national committees held in conjunction with the World Dairy Summit, held Oct. 15-19 in Daejeon, South Korea.

Two of IDFA’s subject matter experts attended the meeting. Cary Frye, IDFA senior vice president of regulatory affairs, serves as an executive board member of both IDF and US-IDF. John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards, serves as vice chair of US-IDF as well as chair of the global federation’s standing committee on standards of identity and labeling.

At the meeting, committee members recognized Frye for her four years of leadership as former chair of US-IDF.

“As the U.S. dairy industry expands its sales in international markets, IDF provides a unique forum to advance our positions on dairy standards, labeling, sustainable development and animal practices,” said Frye. “During my time as chair of US-IDF, the organization executed a strategic plan to focus efforts on key priorities that would encourage global trade for the dairy sector. I’d also like to recognize the important contributions of the US-IDF members who dedicate their time and knowledge to accomplish IDF’s work.”

Priority Issues

The committee’s two-day meeting started with an educational seminar from Mary Francis Lowe, manager at the U.S. Codex Office. She provided an overview of the structure and current work of the United Nations’ Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), the global organization that develops science-based food standards for use in international trade.

The seminar also highlighted US-IDF’s four key areas of work:

  • Front-of-pack nutrition labeling (FOPNL);
  • Antimicrobial resistance;
  • Methods for measuring greenhouse gas emissions for dairy; and
  • Accurate measurement of dairy protein in infant and follow-up formulas.

Front-of-pack Labels

Frye presented an overview of FOPNL initiatives taking place in different countries around the world. According to Frye, governments in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel and the United Kingdom have introduced simplified nutrition information labels on the front of food packages, which are intended to warn consumers when foods are high in calories, sugar, saturated fat and sodium. Codex is now looking to introduce global guidance for countries interested in regulating these kinds of labels.

Frye and U.S. dairy leaders have stressed that any front-of-pack label guidance should be voluntary and flexible enough to include the many systems currently in use internationally. They’ve also stressed that guidance should encourage food companies to convey facts about the content of nutrients to encourage, in addition to content of nutrients to limit. This would ensure that nutrient-dense foods, such as milk, are represented. Frye is working with IDF to provide comments to the Codex Committee of Food Labeling, which will meet next May.

Conversion Factors for Milk Proteins

Allan led the committee’s strategic planning discussion about Codex’s latest action on a standard for follow-up formulas, products consumed by older infants and young children that are often made with dairy ingredients. Codex is currently reviewing nitrogen conversion factors, which companies use to calculate the protein content of soy-derived or milk-derived protein ingredients used in infant formula and follow-up formula.

IDFA has stressed the importance of using accurate conversion factors to ensure the best estimate of protein content can be determined, regardless of which protein is present.

Codex has requested outside scientific expert advice on what the appropriate conversion factors are to inform its decision-making, but this advice will likely not be finalized until later in 2019. IDFA is encouraging Codex to finalize this work as soon as possible, so the follow-up formula standard can be completed. 

About US-IDF

The US-IDF is one of 45 national committees representing countries that work together as the International Dairy Federation to serve as the preeminent scientific expert body for the global dairy sector. The US-IDF represents the U.S. industry’s perspectives and interests within the International Dairy Federation. A list of US-IDF members is available here.

About World Dairy Summit

The IDF World Dairy Summit is an annual meeting of the global dairy industry that attracts more than 1,000 participants from all over the world. Attendees include CEOs and employees of dairy processing companies, dairy farmers, suppliers to the dairy industry, academic representatives, government officials and marketing professionals.

For more information, contact Cary Frye at cfrye@idfa.org or John Allan at jallan@idfa.org.