REGULATORY REGISTER
A NOTE ON THE CURRENT REGULATORY FREEZE
President Trump issued a memorandum Jan. 20 directing all federal agencies to place a freeze on new or pending federal rules until the new administration has had an opportunity to review them. Similar freezes were issued in prior administrations.
The 60-day regulatory freeze may affect proposed rules from the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and USDA that are discussed in this report.
NMPF continues to monitor these regulations and is preparing for multiple outcomes when the freeze lifts.
Labeling & Standards
FDA Releases Labeling Guidance for Plant-Based Foods Other Than “Milk”
NMPF submitted comments to FDA Jan. 15 for its second guidance document on the labeling of plant-based foods, released Jan. 6. This new guidance document deals with plant-based food alternatives to animal products, including many foods in the dairy category, as well as eggs, seafood, poultry and meat. This guidance excludes milk, which was covered in a 2023 guidance document. The new recommendations suggest manufacturers prominently display more details about the ingredients used in a product, beyond just saying they are “plant-based.”
FDA makes clear in its guidance that it understands that consumers are confused about the nutritional inferiority of plant-based products and is asking for more disclosure to consumers to correct that misperception. NMPF maintains that the agency should be enforcing its own standards of identity as written and follow the lawful process of the Administrative Procedures Act. NMPF also shared its concerns about FDA’s Labeling of Plant-Based Alternatives to Animal-Derived Foods; Draft Guidance for Industry to the Office of Management and Budget in a Nov. 1 letter
The guidance does not create legally enforceable regulations; as this was issued in the final days of the Biden administration, it remains unclear how the incoming Trump administration will handle it.
NMPF Fights Back on Flawed Frontof-Pack Labeling Regulation
NMPF filed comments with FDA Jan. 17 opposing its proposed rule to require that saturated fat, sodium and added sugar be displayed prominently on the front of packaged foods. The proposed nutrition label, referred to as the Nutrition Information Box, would complement the existing Nutrition Facts Panel required on most food packages. However, because the front-of-pack label would only list saturated fat, sodium and added sugar, consumers will get an incomplete picture of that food’s nutritional profile. NMPF asserts that the proposal is unlawful, will not be able to withstand a First Amendment challenge, and should be withdrawn.
BECAUSE THE FRONT-OF-PACK LABEL WOULD ONLY LIST SATURATED FAT, SODIUM AND ADDED SUGAR, CONSUMERS WILL GET AN INCOMPLETE PICTURE OF THAT FOOD’S NUTRITIONAL PROFILE. NMPF ASSERTS THAT THE PROPOSAL IS UNLAWFUL, WILL NOT BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND A FIRST AMENDMENT CHALLENGE, AND SHOULD BE WITHDRAWN.
FDA Issues Final Decision on “Healthy” Label Claim
FDA published its final rule defining the term “healthy” in the Federal Register on Dec. 27. This final rule defines what food products can use the term “healthy” on their labels and reflects an updated approach to the label claim initially introduced 30 years ago.
Under the previous version, about 15% of products were eligible for the healthy designation, but FDA’s new definition is so narrow that only 5% are now expected to qualify. Certain nutrient-dense foods will earn the “healthy” designation, including low-fat dairy products, beans, lean meat, olive oil and avocados. But given the strict limits on salt, added sugar and saturated fat, reduced fat (2%) milk or sweetened yogurt will not be eligible, even though they contain abundant, foundational nutrients for human health. Certain plant-based beverages may be able to qualify if reformulated to the low sugar threshold.
The new rule is slated to take effect within two months; food marketers will have two years after that to comply. Meanwhile, the FDA will devise a “healthy” label insignia. However, because of its timing, this rule is caught in the “regulatory freeze” and the next steps remain unclear.
Nutrition
Voluntary Sodium Reduction Goals
Risk Quality, Food Safety, NMPF Says
The target sodium reduction goals FDA has outlined for cheese and butter are in many cases unachievable without sacrificing product quality, food safety and other critical product attributes, NMPF said in comments submitted Jan. 13.
The Voluntary Sodium Reduction Goals:
Target Mean and Recommended Maximum Concentrations for Sodium in Commercially Processed, Packaged, and Prepared Foods (Edition 2) calls for sodium reductions that ignore the crucial role salt plays in making cheese.
NMPF supports a healthier food supply and sodium reductions in food where it is warranted, but emphasized in its comments to FDA that salt is not added to cheese beyond levels necessary for functionality and food safety. NMPF highlights that cheese, especially aged cheeses, are in a uniquely challenging position when it comes to sodium reduction, as salt affects not only flavors and textures of these products but also product shelf life.
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Releases Scientific Report; Dairy Community Responds
After two years of evaluating scientific evidence and taking into account stakeholder input, the advisory committee reviewing what Americans should be eating released its report Dec. 10. The Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee maintains the prominent role of dairy foods in a healthy diet, including
the recommendation for three servings of dairy daily, a big win for the dairy community.
The final report reflects a great deal of hard work by NMPF’s members and allies to maintain dairy foods’ central role in American diets. The review also made clear that expanding the dairy food group to include additional plant-based alternative beverages (outside of fortified soy beverage, which is already included) is not supported by scientific evidence. NMPF had hammered the point that imitators do not offer the same consistent package of nutrition provided by real milk –and the committee agreed. This is especially important to the school lunch program, as the dietary guidelines greatly affect the food options available to children through school meals and other nutrition programs.
NMPF expressed disappointment that the committee only recommends consumption of unflavored milk, especially as it acknowledged that flavored milk contains beneficial nutrients and the committee did not explicitly conclude any connection between flavored milk consumption and obesity risk. And while it was reassuring that the committee found evidence that substituting higher-fat dairy for lower-fat dairy showed no association with cardiovascular disease morbidity, the committee still only recommends consumption of low-fat and non-fat dairy products.
NMPF submitted comments to USDA and HHS on Feb. 10, and encouraged its members to share their voices by participating in NMPF’s advocacy campaign Jan. 16 through Feb. 10. NMPF will continue to urge the departments to look more fully at recent science supporting the benefits of full-fat dairy in the diet as the actual guidelines are developed.
Food Safety
Partnership for Food Traceability Hosts Inaugural Meeting
NMPF joined other food industry organizations for the initial meeting of the Partnership for Food Traceability, a public-private partnership in collaboration with the FDA, on Oct. 10. PFT is a forum for cooperation and coordination, allowing for the ability to exchange, gather, and use traceability data among supply chain partners, which is essential not only for effective and efficient implementation of enhanced food traceability, but also for adding predictability to the way food is traced.
NMPF looks forward to working with this group to enhance transparency, safety, and efficiency in the food supply chain.
FDA Begins Sampling Assignment for Aged Raw Milk Cheese
The FDA began a domestic sampling assignment to collect and test aged raw cow’s milk cheese for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI H5N1, also known as bird flu). The objectives of the assignment are to determine whether viable H5N1 virus is present in the cheese and then take any needed follow-up action to address contaminated products and protect consumers. To do this, FDA will collect 300 samples of raw cow’s milk cheese that has been aged for at least 60 days, along with the label information. The domestic raw milk cheese sampling assignment began Dec. 23 and is expected to run through March.
Animal Health
USDA Announces H5N1 Testing, New Variant Confirmed in Nevada
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Dec. 6 the start of its National Milk Testing Strategy, which builds on measures taken by USDA and federal and state partners since the outbreak of HPAI H5N1 in dairy cattle was first detected in March 2024.
Testing under the strategy started in six states: California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania. More states signed on in the month following the strategy’s launch, bringing the total to 40 states.
USDA testing milk silos at dairy processing facilities through this strategy creates a national sample that will allow USDA to identify where the disease is present, monitor trends, and help states identify potentially affected herds. Importantly, the locations of processors and silos will not used for HPAI monitoring. Any communication about the results of silo monitoring will be reviewed by USDA and shared with the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments and FDA prior to public release. USDA will cooperate with states and producers to provide the maximum protection provided by law for this information.
Building on the results of silo monitoring, USDA also started bulk tank sampling programs that will identify herds that are affected by H5N1, in collaboration with states. Positive results will result in a series of further biosecurity actions, until ongoing testing no longer detects the virus in a given state.
The National Milk Testing Strategy is what led USDA APHIS toward its Feb. 5 announcement confirming the first detection of the D1.1 genotype in a dairy herd in Nevada. This is the
second genotype that has been identified in dairy cattle. USDA APHIS continues to work with the Nevada Department of Agriculture to better understand this detection and limit further disease spread.
U.S. Dairy Hits New Record Low for Milk and Dairy Beef Residues
Milk drug residues continued to decline in 2024. Less than six-thousandths of one percent—only 1 out of every 17,083 milk tankers—tested positive for antibiotic residues last year, according to the 2024 National Milk Drug Residue Database annual report from FDA. The data illustrates the continued commitment from U.S. dairy farmers to improvements in milk quality practices. Of the approximately 3.3 million milk pickup tankers tested in the past year, only 196 (0.006%) yielded a positive result.
The good news on drug residue violations also continues for dairy beef. The USDA Food Safety Inspection Service inspects all dairy cattle sold for slaughter at federally inspected plants. In 2024, only 135 dairy cull cows were found with a drug residue violation, a decrease of 30% from the previous year. For bob veal, drug residue violations in 2024 decreased by 32.5% from the previous year, to just 27 animals.
Sustainability & the Environment
On-Farm Pest Management Draws Attention in October
NMPF continues to fight for farmers’ ability to use appropriate pest management products, such as insecticides and rodenticides, in their operations.
NMPF and ten other agriculture organizations shared practices that are recommended to farmers and ranchers across the country for responsible use of rodenticides and underscored the importance of these products for pest control in supplementary comments submitted Oct. 10 to the EPA.
NMPF and several other agriculture groups on Oct. 14 sent a letter to congressional leaders drawing attention to the necessity of pest management tools in agriculture and calling out the spread of misinformation about these tools.
“Pesticides are essential for protecting public health and infrastructure from deadly or destructive pests such as mosquitoes, termites, rodents, bed bugs, and others,” the letter states. “Without meaningful, continued use of these tools, the U.S. public could be exposed to billions of dollars in harm from rodent or insect-borne diseases, while public and private infrastructure could suffer immense losses from pest damage.”
The letter goes on to urge Congress and federal regulators to avoid policy changes that would impose new burdens on these tools or undermine their use.
NMPF hopes to slow the adoption of unnecessary and burdensome regulations which would jeopardize producers’ ability to provide affordable food and other agricultural products to consumers by collaborating with other agriculture groups to draw attention to these issues.
WITHOUT MEANINGFUL, CONTINUED USE OF THESE TOOLS, THE U.S. PUBLIC COULD BE EXPOSED TO BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN HARM FROM RODENT OR INSECT-BORNE DISEASES, WHILE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INFRASTRUCTURE COULD SUFFER IMMENSE LOSSES FROM PEST DAMAGE.
National Air Emissions Monitoring Study Comment Period Extended
Nearly 20 years after EPA entered into historic Air Consent Agreements with livestock producers, the agency released on Nov. 14 a series of proposed Emission Estimating Methodologies for public comment.
NMPF and organizations representing swine, dairy, poultry and egg producers across the United States submitted a request to EPA on Dec. 20 that the public comment period be extended to allow adequate time to review. Though the organizations were not granted the full 180-day extension requested in their letter, the EPA did extend the public comment period to May 19.
NAEMS was established in 2006 by a voluntary Air Compliance Agreement between the EPA and the pork, dairy, egg and broiler industries, to address the lack of scientific data. Funded through a one-time authorization through the national dairy checkoff, dairy farmers provided the financial support for NAEMS so that emissions data could be collected at select sites to first, accurately assess emissions from livestock operations and compile a database for estimation of emission rates, and second, promote a national consensus for emissionsestimation methods and procedures from livestock operations.
EPA Shares Draft PFAS Risk Assessment
NMPF joined EPA in a webinar discussion Jan. 15 in which EPA shared details about the Draft Risk Assessment to Advance Scientific Understanding of PFOA and PFOS in Biosolids released the day before. EPA repeatedly stated in the webinar that the risk assessment focuses on a specific and narrow population of people, and that the analysis does not indicate that the general food supply is impacted by the use of biosolids that contain PFOA or PFOS.
Once finalized, the assessment will help EPA and its partners understand the public health impact of forever chemicals in biosolids and inform any potential future actions to help reduce the risk of exposure.
International
NMPF Supports Milestone Common Names Victory in Singapore
NMPF and the Consortium for Common Food Names worked with a CCFN member company to prevail in a landmark Singapore Court of Appeals ruling on Nov. 22 that confirmed that “parmesan” will remain a generic designation in Singapore. NMPF is a founding member of CCFN and staffs the organization.
The case originated in June 2019, when the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano – an Italian cheese consortium –sought to confiscate “parmesan” as a protected translation of “Parmigiano Reggiano” under Singapore’s Geographical Indications Act.
After lower courts initially ruled in the Consorzio’s favor, exporters of parmesan were at serious risk of being delisted from supplier logs and having products pulled from supermarket shelves, which did occur in certain situations.
CCFN in response worked with its member to hire a legal team, raise awareness of the case with the U.S. and Singapore governments, and build the strongest case possible, including by gathering evidence of “parmesan’s” widespread generic use, as well as key legal assessments and an analysis of market activity. The positive result not only safeguards U.S. exporters’ access to Singapore but sets an important precedent in Southeast Asia.
NMPF
Highlights Regulatory Priorities to U.S. Trade Representative’s Office
NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council submitted comments Oct. 17 to the U.S. Trade Representative, underlining the most pressing trade barriers impacting U.S. dairy exports. In addition to detailing country-specific barriers, NMPF’s comments relayed the challenges that U.S. dairy exporters are experiencing accessing markets around the globe, ranging from unnecessary import certification requirements to attempts by trading partners to limit imports through unscientific sanitary requirements.
In their submission, NMPF and USDEC urged the U.S. government to prioritize issues in 37 markets, including:
• U.S. dairy access to the Canadian market, which has failed to meet the commitments made by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
• Resolving Indonesia’s inability and/or unwillingness to register U.S. dairy plants in a timely and predictable manner.
• Countering the European Union’s attempts to monopolize common food names like “parmesan” and “feta” in markets around the world.
NMPF’s comments will help inform the agency’s National Trade Estimate (NTE) report, which is published annually as a comprehensive review of significant foreign trade and investment barriers to U.S. exports.
Other NMPF News
USDA Publishes Final Rule on FMMO
After more than three years of hearings and proposals, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service announced Jan. 16 that farmers and cooperatives across the country voted to approve the changes NMPF worked to develop in the Federal Milk Marketing Order system. The Agricultural Marketing Service announcement said that producers in all 11 federal orders approved the modifications by the necessary two-thirds majority.
The detailed changes are outlined in a Federal Register posting. Most of the changes will take effect June 1. The package includes:
• Updating the skim milk composition factors to 3.3% true protein, 6% other solids and 9.3% nonfat solids, with implementation delayed six months until Dec. 1.
• Removing 500-pound barrel cheddar cheese prices from the Dairy Product Mandatory Reporting Program survey.
• Updating the Class III and Class IV manufacturing allowances to $0.2519 for cheese, $0.2272 for butter, $0.2393 for nonfat dry milk and $0.2668 for dry whey, all on a per pound basis, and the butterfat recovery factor to 91%.
• Returning the base Class I skim milk price formula to the higher-of the advanced Class III or Class IV skim milk prices for the month. In addition, adoption of a Class I extended shelf life (ESL) adjustment for all ESL products equal to the average-of mover plus a 24-month rolling average adjuster with a 12-month lag.
• Updating the Class I differential values to reflect the increased cost of servicing the Class I market.
NMPF continues to pursue two other components of its modernization plan that don’t involve changing federal orders directly: seeking farm bill provisions that would grant USDA the authority to conduct mandatory plant-cost studies to inform future make allowance discussions; and extending the current 30-day reporting limit to 45 days for forward-priced sales of nonfat dry milk and dry whey.
NMPF Accepting Applications for 2025 Scholarship Program
NMPF is now accepting applications for its National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program for the 2025-2026 academic year. NMPF awards scholarships each year to outstanding graduate students who are actively pursuing dairy-related fields of research of immediate interest to NMPF member cooperatives and the U.S. dairy industry at large.
Graduate students pursuing research with direct benefit to milk marketing cooperatives and dairy producers may apply (applicants do not need to be members of NMPF to qualify). Recommended fields of study include but are not limited to Agriculture Communications and Journalism, Animal Health, Animal and/ or Human Nutrition, Bovine Genetics, Dairy Products Processing, Dairy Science, Economics, Environmental Science, Food Science, Food Safety, Herd Management, and Marketing and Price Analysis.
Applications must be received no later than Wednesday, April 23. To apply or for more information, visit the NMPF website or email scholarship@nmpf.org.
