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IDFA en Espanol 		News Center

USNAC Looks Ahead to IDF Annual Meeting in Belgium

On August 13, the U.S. National Committee (USNAC) of the International Dairy Federation (IDF) met in Rosemont, Ill., for its fall membership meeting to prepare for IDF Annual Meeting this month in Brugge, Belgium. A partnership of U.S. government and industry groups that includes IDFA, USNAC develops U.S. dairy industry positions prior to meetings of the IDF and Codex bodies regarding international dairy product standards, dairy farm and processing plant hygienic standards, food labeling, food additives, marketing practices and economic issues. IDFA participates to ensure that the resulting international decisions and standards are consistent with current and evolving U.S. dairy manufacturing practices.

Dr. Rusty Bishop, Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, led the USNAC meeting, which included the following highlights:

  • Deborah Van Dyk, Schreiber Foods, was appointed the official USNAC delegate to the IDF Annual Meeting.
  • IDFA's Allen Sayler and Cary Frye gave reports on international activities and standards related to food additives, food labeling, and dairy standards other than cheese.
  • Dr. David Hettinga, Land O'Lakes, was named an honorary member of USNAC.
  • Plans moved forward regarding USNAC and the Canadian National Committee joint hosting of the 2005 IDF Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia
The upcoming IDF Annual Meeting is particularly significant because it will include the election of a new IDF president; no front-runner has yet emerged. There will also be a meeting in Brugge to establish the global dairy industry position on the Codex processed cheese standard, which is widely viewed as outdated, in preparation for the Codex working group meeting on processed cheeses (which will be held on the Monday after the IDF Annual Meeting). The U.S. position, which IDFA supports, is to abolish the standard altogether, while other nations may prefer to redraft it.

In addition, the IDF meeting will include a welcome for new members Russia, Mexico and South Africa. IDF is focusing on growing its membership through its "Adopt a Country" program where existing IDF members financially support a new country's membership and the "Liaison Member" program, where new members pay just 25% of standard membership in its first year, 50% in the second year and 75% the third year.

For more details on USNAC and IDF, please contact Allen Sayler at 202/220-3544, asayler@idfa.org.

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Posted September 8, 2003