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DairyPRIDE language attached to appropriations bill

A Wisconsin-based dairy organization believes legislation cracking down on the use of dairy terms in nondairy foods will need help passing Congress.  John Holevoet from the Dairy Business Association tells Brownfield the DairyPRIDE Act isn’t getting enough traction in Washington on its own and has been added to an agriculture appropriations bill.  “There are several different ag appropriation bills out there that are working their way through the subcommittee on ag appropriations and that language has made it into the report language for one of those appropriation bills.”

But, Holevoet says there’s no guarantee the DairyPRIDE language will stay in the appropriations bill.  “It may or may not be included in the final version of that appropriations bill.  That actually might be the best chance that language or that concept has at becoming law.”

Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin introduced DairyPRIDE to force the Food and Drug Administration to stop terms like “milk” and “cheese” from being used to describe imitation products derived from plants.  Baldwin says DairyPRIDE has bipartisan support, but Holevoet says not enough overall support right now.

DairyPRIDE has the support of most dairy organizations including National Milk Producers and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, but not the International Dairy Foods Association… which has members on both sides of the issue.