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Omnibus spending package includes DairyPRIDE provisions to protect dairy terms from imitation product use

 

The dairy industry leaders trying to stop imitation products from using dairy terms say Friday’s omnibus spending package is a major victory they’ve spent 20 years trying to achieve.  Chris Galen with the National Milk Producers Federation tells Brownfield, “What it says is that Congress is aware of the concerns over the misuse of dairy terms on plant-based imitators, and now FDA has to develop guidelines for the industry including how the standard will be enforced.  That’s the language in this.”

Galen says the spending package signed by President Donald Trump has language from the DairyPRIDE bill, which should put some enforcement teeth into existing standards the Food and Drug Administration has been ignoring.  “Now, Congress is weighing in and saying FDA needs to do its job when it comes to enforcing these standards of identity.”

And, Galen says Congress weighing in on dairy should help the beef industry, which is concerned about the development of more imitation and cultured meat.  “technology to do that now has basically gone faster than the regulatory system, so we’re trying to pull that cow back into the barn, so to speak, and I think that’s ultimately going to help on the meat side where we have fake meats as well starting to appear in the marketplace.”

Most regulation of beef, poultry, and eggs is handled through the USDA and not the FDA, which regulates most dairy products.

Galen says Congress and the President gave the FDA 180 days from enactment of the omnibus package to devise standards and enforcement guidelines for use of dairy terms on imitation products.  That gives FDA until Wednesday, September 19th to write the guidelines.

The DairyPRIDE bill was not supported by all agriculture groups.  The International Dairy Foods Association rescinded its initial support.  The American Soybean Association and the Soyfoods Association of North America opposed the original bill.