Late Wednesday, Republican and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to support legislation that will fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2018. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (H.R. 1625) contains a number of provisions that will benefit the dairy processing industry. The House passed H.R. 1625 with strong bipartisan support earlier this afternoon, and IDFA expects the Senate to approve the legislation before midnight Friday, when current government funding lapses. The president is expected to sign the bill.

Here are a few of the bill’s provisions of interest to dairy companies:

Section 199A of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The bill includes an amendment to Section 199A of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to resolve unintended consequences that threatened to distort the dairy marketplace. IDFA advocated for the inclusion of the provision because it will create a level playing field for IDFA’s cooperative and non-cooperative members that produce milk and dairy products.

View the provision on pages 2033-2049 of the bill.

Increased Food and Drug Administration Resources

The bill includes funding for the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and Office of Regulatory Affairs. IDFA asked Congress to give additional resources to these offices to help them provide adequate training for Food Safety Modernization Act inspectors, modernize standards of identity for dairy products and finalize FDA guidance and policies related to Listeria monocytogenes, among other things. The bill increased funding of these departments to $1.041 billion, a $16 million increase over fiscal year 2017 levels.

View the provision on page 70 of the bill.

Nutrition Facts Label and Serving Sizes

The bill notes that FDA has not finalized the rule to extend the compliance date for manufacturers for the Nutrition Facts Label Final Rule and the Serving Size Final Rule, which has caused significant confusion and market disruptions. The bill directs the agency to finalize the rule before July 26, 2018. It also directs the agency to issue its conclusions on the status of pending dietary fiber ingredients expeditiously.

Read more on page 29 of the bill's explanatory statement.

Intentional Adulteration

The bill also directs FDA to reevaluate the Intentional Adulteration rule. Specifically, Congress urged FDA to gather more feedback from stakeholders and address concerns about the rule’s requirements that are overly prescriptive, costly, and inconsistent with current successful practices used to protect the nation's food supply.

Read more on page 30 of the bill's explanatory statement.

Sodium Reduction

The 2018 omnibus bill language mandates that funds to FDA cannot be used to develop or issue any regulations or guidance on sodium reduction actions for food manufacturers until the recently convened National Academies of Science completes their review of the dietary recommendations for sodium. IDFA filed comments with FDA in 2016 asking for cheeses to be exempt from the voluntary sodium-reduction plans, stressing that the agency’s goals are likely to be unachievable without sacrificing product quality, food safety and other critical product attributes.

View the provision on page 120 of the bill.

Company Trade Secrets

Additionally, the bill directs FDA to provide more information about how it protects food company trade secrets and confidential commercial information collected during inspections.

This initiative is important to dairy companies as IDFA expects the implementation of new regulatory requirements, to increase the volume of food industry trade secret and confidential commercial information FDA will collect. Food industry representatives have repeatedly expressed concern regarding FDA’s management practices for this information. 

Read more on page 30 of the bill's explanatory statement.

Defense Logistics Agency and Scientific Justification

In language accompanying the bill, members of Congress directed the Defense Logistics Agency to seek additional input and scientific justification for all future food or ingredient changes. The agency is a group under the U.S. Department of Defense that provides worldwide logistics support to the military, and recently requested information regarding certain food ingredients, including trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs). In comments submitted this week, IDFA encouraged the agency to align with the Food and Drug Administration’s position, which bans PHOs in the U.S. food supply but allows naturally occurring trans fats, such as those found in milk. 

Read more on page 36 of the bill.

Extension of Generalized System of Preferences

The bill extends the Generalized System of Preferences, a program under the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, through 2010. This will allow products important to the dairy industry to enter the United States at a preferable duty rate.

Read more on pages 1762-1764 of the bill.

For more information, contact Dave Carlin, IDFA senior vice president of legislative affairs and economic policy at dcarlin@idfa.org.