IDFA staff members joined nearly 1,100 global dairy stakeholders from more than 50 countries in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last month to discuss dairy’s role in food security, food safety, nutrition, sustainability and the global economy at the International Dairy Federation’s (IDF) World Dairy Summit. IDFA participated in IDF committee meetings held in conjunction with the summit, where members discussed several relevant topics to the U.S. dairy industry.
John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards, was elected to chair the IDF Standing Committee on Standards of Identity and Labeling. Allan led the committee meeting where members discussed recent outcomes from the Codex Committee on Food Labeling, which included new work on voluntary front-of-package nutrition labeling.
He also attended the IDF Standing Committee on Food Additives, where members discussed ongoing work on food additive provisions within Codex dairy food standards.
At the summit, Allan moderated a food safety session on the use of whole genome sequencing and analysis, where experts discussed how the technology is being used by industry, academia and regulators to better ensure dairy food safety. The sessions featured remarks from Dr. Hilde Kruse, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Dr. Kieran Jordan, Teagasc, an Irish research body; Dr. Corinne Amar, Public Health England; and Professor Jeroen De Buck, University of Calgary.
US Dairy Well Represented
Joining Allan in Belfast were Michael Dykes, D.V.M., IDFA president and CEO, who gave a presentation on U.S. trade policy, and Cary Frye, senior vice president of regulatory affairs, who was elected to the IDF Board of Directors to serve as its dairy processing representative. Heather Soubra, IDFA chief of staff, also attended the summit.
Two U.S. dairy representatives were elected to positions on IDF’s Scientific Program Coordinating Committee. Andrew Novakovic, E.V. Baker professor of agricultural economics, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, was elected as an academic representative. Jamie Jonker, vice president of sustainability and scientific affairs at the National Milk Producers Federation, was elected as an animal health representative.
IDFA Hosts Dinner for Global Leaders
IDFA hosted a dinner during the summit for 48 dairy executives representing companies in more than a dozen countries.
“Our dinner was the perfect opportunity for us to bring together processing representatives across the world and foster collaboration in the global dairy manufacturing industry,” Dykes said.
For more information about the World Dairy Summit or committee meetings, contact Frye at cfrye@idfa.org or Allan at jallan@idfa.org.