Page Category: What We Do

US-IDF’s Role

US-IDF is one of 43 member country National Committees of The International Dairy Federation (IDF). A recognized international authority in the development of science -based standards for the dairy sector, IDF has an important role to play in ensuring the right policies, standards, practices and regulations are in place to ensure the world’s dairy products are safe and sustainable. With that in mind, US-IDF provides the U.S. dairy industry a voice in those efforts to ensure that those global standards are aligned with U.S. practices and standards.

To do that US-IDF aligns with the work of IDF which centers around four pillars:  Nutrition and Health, Standards, Sustainability, and Food Safety.  US-IDF topic experts engage in the work and voice the U.S. perspective, providing input and recommendations based on sound science.

  • Nutrition

US-IDF proactively supports science-based nutrition policies that ensure dairy is an integral part of the diet for all age groups and contributes to closing the nutritional gap.

  • Standards

US-IDF aims at shaping global regulatory frameworks through the development of policies, laws, regulations, protocols/codes of practice, specifications, guidelines and fact sheets. These address methods of analysis and sampling (MAS), food standards, animal health and welfare, environment, food safety and quality, and nutrition.

  • Sustainability

US-IDF supports the dairy sector’s commitment to continuously improve its ability to provide safe and nutritious milk and dairy products from healthy animals to consumers while preserving the planet’s natural recourses and ensuring decent livelihoods worldwide. This must be done by developing and promoting sustainable practices across the dairy supply chain, regardless of management practices.

  • Dairy Safety & Quality

US-IDF promotes U.S. best practices and risk assessment to assist in safeguarding the integrity and transparency of the dairy supply chain which is paramount to ensure the dairy industry can deliver safe milk and dairy products of the highest quality.

Program of Work

Working through IDF to Achieve U.S. Objectives

IDF’s priority is to provide science-based information for the benefit of the dairy sector as well as to international organizations, governments and legislators. 1200 experts appointed by IDF members, like US-IDF, work within 17 different Standing Committees that represent the various sectors of the dairy industry. IDF places great emphasis and importance on ensuring that the work conducted by the Standing Committees and Task Forces are of the highest scientific integrity and are relevant and applicable to the dairy sector and industry as a whole.

US-IDF is an important gateway for the U.S. dairy industry to influence decision at the global level. Through its membership in IDF, the organization gains insight into emerging issues relevant to the U.S. dairy industry. At the same time members participate in the various IDF Standing Committees, utilizing their expertise and working together to provide the U.S. perspective for each of these important areas of work, influencing positions and then working through IDF to influence global decision-makers as international guideline and standards are developed at venue such as Codex, FAO, OIE, ISO and others.

Standing Committees

  • Animal Health & Welfare
  • Food Standards
  • Dairy Science & Technology
  • Hygiene & Safety
  • Economics, Marketing & Policy
  • Environment
  • Nutrition & Health
  • Farm Management
  • Methods of Analysis & Sampling

Within the 17 Standing Committees, new work items are developed to address the needs of the dairy industry. Getting involved in this work allows US-IDF members to share their expertise while at the same time ensuring that global standards and practices are neutral with respect to things such as farm size, management practices, and geography.

US-IDF provides access to IDF’s global influence, and an important platform for making a difference on behalf of the U.S. dairy industry.

US-IDF