USDA Revises Standards For Dry Whole Milk, Effective April 13
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The
United States Department of Ag
riculture has revised the United
States Standards for Grades of
Dry Whole Milk. They will be
come effective April 13.
The changes will:
• Lower the maximum bacte
rial estimate for U.S. Extra
Grade to not more than 10,000
per gram and for U.S. Standard
Grade to not more than 50,000
per gram;
• Include protein content as
an optional test;
• Incorporate a maximum ti
tratable acidity requirement for
U.S. Extra Grade and U.S. Stan
dard Grade;
• Expand the “Test methods”
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section to allow product evalua
tion using latest methods in
cluded in Standard Methods for
the Examination of Dairy Prod
ucts in the Official Methods of
Analysis of the Association of Of
ficial Analytical Chemists, and in
standards developed by the In
ternational Dairy Federation;
• Reference the Food and
Drug Administration’s standards
of identity for dry whole milk;
• Relocate information con
cerning the optional oxygen con
tent determination; and
• Make editorial changes to
provide consistency with other
U.S. grade standards for dairy
products.
The changes will strengthen
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the quality requirements of this
standard to reflect improvements
in dry whole milk quality and
provide consistency with other
dry milk standards.
A notice soliciting comments
to the proposed changes was
published in the Federal Register
on July 28, 2000 (65 FR
46399-46421). Based on informa
tion received during the com
ment period, USDA determined
that changes appropriate and re
vised the standards accordingly.
The revised United States Stan
dards for Grades of Dry Whole
Milk were published in the
March 14 Federal Register and
will become effective on Apr. 13.
USDA grade standards are
voluntary standards developed to
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facilitate the marketing process.
Manufacturers of dairy products
are free to choose whether or not
to use these grade standards.
The revised Standards are
available from Duane R. Spool
er, Chief, Dairy Standardization
Branch, Dairy Programs, Agri
2002 Farm Bill:
Less Government Is
More For Beef Industry
WASHINGTON DC At a
House Agriculture Committee
hearing recently, Wythe Willey,
President-elect of the National
♦Some Restrictions May Apply
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 7,2001-A35
cultural Marketing Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture,
Room 2746, South Building,
Stop 0230, P.O. Box 96456,
Washington, D.C. 20090-6456 or
by accessing the AMS home page
at, www.ams.usda.gov/dairy/
stand.htm.
Cattlemen’s Beef Association
(NCBA), urged House commit
tee members to minimize govern
ment programs for agriculture
businesses. Willey em
phasized that subsidies
do not work and a free
“The members of
NCBA understand
that farm programs
are a major compo
nent of US domestic
policy and will remain
so for the foreseeable
future. Therefore,
NCBA has been and
will continue to be fo
cused on ensuring that
farm policy does not
benefit one part of ag
riculture at the ex-
pense 'of another,"
Willey stated. “NCBA
will not consent to US
farm policy that is fi
nanced out of the
pockets of the beef in
dustry.”
“We do not spend
time or political capi
tal trying to enact pro
grams to deal with
market downturns
that in the end would
only encourage over
production and extend
the downside life of
the cattle cycle,”
NCBA director of leg
islative affairs, Bryan
Dierlam said. “The
market is truly a pow
erful force and is the
beef industry’s greatest
strength.”
The beef industry is
concerned about gov
ernment programs
that inadvertently af
fect the price of feed
grains or result in dis
torted market signals.
Because all beef cattle
account for nearly 30
percent of total grain
consuming animal
units, these actions can
have major impacts on
the economic well
being of the beef in
dustry. NCBA does
not support direct
price or income sup
ports for the beef in
dustry but is con
cerned about efforts to
increase farm income
by raising input prices
on the beef industry.
market economy is
best.