For Immediate Release
Contact: Peggy Armstrong 
(202) 220-3508
parmstrong@idfa.org

Statement by IDFA President and CEO Connie Tipton

(Washington, D.C. – December 18, 2015) The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) today released the following statement in response to the House of Representatives and the Senate passing “The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2015,” the omnibus spending bill that repealed the Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) program.

“The omnibus spending bill approved today contained a measure that was a true holiday gift to the dairy industry. By repealing the Country-of-Origin Labeling provisions that were out of compliance with U.S. trade obligations, Congress stopped imminent and expensive retaliation efforts against U.S. dairy products from our key trading partners. We applaud Congress for its determined efforts to fix COOL.”

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The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C, represents the nation's dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of more than 550 companies within a $125-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA's nearly 200 dairy processing members run nearly 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States.