The National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) will consider 74 proposals to change Grade “A” plant and farm regulations in the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) at its biennial meeting, April 26- May 1, in St. Louis, Missouri. These proposals affect all dairy plants producing Grade A products, such as fluid milk, cream products, yogurt, cottage cheese, eggnog, buttermilk and many dried dairy products.

Conference attendees will consider a proposal that seeks to provide state regulators with greater responsibility for inspecting Grade “A” plants and products for compliance with the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) preventive controls rule, which are now incorporated into Appendix T of the PMO. FDA has recently indicated that it would like to rely more on state regulators to provide inspection oversight for all domestic food facilities, so the agency can shift more FDA inspection resources towards imports. However, FDA will need to continue to work towards standardized and consistent application of regulations between states. Harmonized regulation from state to state is critical for the dairy industry, which operates across state lines in most instances.

Delegates to the conference will also debate whether popular and widely-produced yogurt parfait products should be required to be regulated under the PMO, even though they are typically produced in commissaries or other food production facilities for sale as foodservice items. In addition, delegates will debate the merits of proposals that would modify the regulatory framework and requirements to expand the variety of drug residues, other than beta-lactams, that should be tested for in raw milk.

Numerous other proposals to allow industry greater access to new technologies and provide clarity in regulatory requirements under the PMO are also on the agenda.

IDFA Team

Cary Frye, IDFA senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, is the NCIMS program committee chair, and she serves with John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards, on the NCIMS board of directors. In addition to Frye and Allan, the other IDFA representatives attending the conference are Danielle Quist, senior director of regulatory affairs and counsel; Michelle Matto, IDFA’s nutrition and labeling consultant; and Taylor Boone, coordinator of regulatory affairs.

Earlier this month, Allan and several IDFA member company experts met with their counterparts from the National Milk Producers Federation and American Dairy Products Institute, then later with U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials, to discuss the proposals and build consensus.

More than 380 federal and state regulators and industry participants are expected to attend the conference, including representatives from many IDFA member companies. During the conference, IDFA will help coordinate and advocate on behalf of industry, and afterwards provide a comprehensive report for members highlighting key outcomes.

Visit the 2019 NCIMS Conference for program details.

For more information, contact Frye at cfrye@idfa.org.