FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Peggy Armstrong
(202) 220-3508
parmstrong@idfa.org

Statement by Michael Dykes, D.V.M., IDFA President and CEO

(Washington, D.C. – February 15, 2017) “The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) commends industry-wide efforts led by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) to streamline and standardize the wording accompanying the date labels on packages.

“IDFA members strongly support efforts to reduce food waste. While much food is wasted at the consumer level, dairy foods companies can play a leading role by educating consumers to better understand when a perishable food, such as milk, yogurt or cheese, should be thrown out or can still be consumed. IDFA will be working with the National Consumers League as they expand their consumer education program to reduce food waste.

“We know that not all dairy companies will be able to voluntarily change their date labels because several states require specific language for dairy products. We are committed to working to resolve conflicting state laws that could prevent our milk and dairy companies from adopting standardized date labels.”

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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 nearly 525 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 more than 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.