IDFA filed comments last week with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), urging the agency to move forward with finalizing the 2009 proposed rule to update the existing federal standards of identity for yogurt. The agency expressed interest in modernizing the yogurt standard as a part of its Nutrition Innovation Strategy announced in April.

In the comments, IDFA reiterated many of the suggestions it shared with FDA in 2009, when the proposed rule was released, and highlighted advances in the dairy and yogurt sectors since that time. IDFA also proposed new ideas that would make FDA’s final standards for yogurt more practical for both consumers and yogurt makers.

Existing Standards Are Out of Date

Existing standards for nonfat yogurt, low-fat yogurt and yogurt are outdated and need modernization, IDFA said, to reflect and accommodate new processing methods and technologies for food ingredients, as well as current consumer preferences and marketing trends toward healthier products.

Specifically, IDFA asked FDA to:

  • Allow for more innovative yogurts by eliminating the requirement for yogurt to contain a minimum of 3.25 percent milkfat before bulky flavoring ingredients are added;
  • Retain the 8.25 percent minimum milk solids requirement;
  • Permit reconstituted forms of cream, milk, partially skimmed milk, and skim milk as basic ingredients
  • Rename the standards category heading to "basic dairy ingredients'' instead of "optional dairy ingredients. Also, expand the list of basic dairy ingredients to include ultra-filtered milk, dried products like milk protein concentrate and isolate, and skim milk powders, such as protein-standardized nonfat dry milk;
  • Allow the use of any safe and suitable sweeteners;
  • Not require companies to declare non-nutritive sweeteners as part of the name of the food;
  • Permit milk-derived ingredients to be added after culturing yogurt, if the dairy ingredients are pasteurized; and
  • Update vitamin A and D levels in the standard to align with other FDA daily values intake changes and serving size changes.

Read the comments here.

For more information, contact John Allan, IDFA senior vice president of regulatory affairs and standards, at jallan@idfa.org.