The U.S. National Committee of the International Dairy Federation (US-IDF) held a membership meeting and education session last week in Rosemont, Ill., to prepare for IDF’s upcoming World Dairy Summit, Oct. 16-21 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The U.S. group plans to continue efforts to expand its leadership role on global scientific and technical issues for the U.S. dairy industry and to increase member engagement in the work of IDF.
“We’re focusing on raising the visibility of US-IDF and communicating how members can become more involved in protecting and enhancing food safety and quality, nutrition, sustainability and dairy standards around the world,” said Cary Frye, IDFA vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs and chairman of US-IDF. “IDF’s work with many international groups, including the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the World Organization for Animal Health and the International Standardization Organization, can have a big impact on dairy trade and consumption around the globe.”
Joining Frye at the meeting were John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory and international standards and deputy chair for the IDF Food Standards and Labeling Committee; and Clay Hough, IDFA senior group vice president and IDF board member who is campaigning to become the next IDF president. Hough is one of three candidates, and the election will be held during the summit next month. Read his candidate statement here.
Representatives from other US-IDF members also attended the meeting in Rosemont, including Dairy Management Inc., the National Milk Producers Federation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, California Polytechnic State University, Cornell University, the University of Wisconsin Dairy Research Center, the California Dairy Council, Abbott Nutrition and Dairy Farmers of America.
To support efforts on increasing member engagement, US-IDF has prepared a one-hour webinar that highlights the important role the group plays in global conversations and outlines the many accomplishments that add value to U.S. dairy and individual stakeholders. The group is also preparing shorter overviews that can be easily shared with companies and others. If you’re interested in learning more, contact Frye at cfrye@idfa.org.
About US-IDF
The US-IDF is one of 45 national committees representing countries that work together as the International Dairy Federation to serve as the scientific expertise for the dairy sector worldwide. Members of the committee provide the U.S. perspective to better protect and enhance the U.S. dairy industry. A list of US-IDF members is available here.
About World Dairy Summit
The IDF World Dairy Summit is an annual meeting of the global dairy industry that attracts 1500 to 2500 participants from all over the world. Attendees include CEOs and employees of dairy processing companies, dairy farmers, suppliers to the dairy industry, academic representatives, government officials and marketing professionals. With the theme “Dare to Dairy,” this year’s summit will offer topical scientific and technical conferences, as well as social and networking events.
For more information, contact Frye at cfrye@idfa.org.