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Congressman seeks fix in milk marketing regulations

A Wisconsin Congressman wants USDA to help fix a whole milk marketing regulation. 

Derrick Van Orden

During a House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry hearing Tuesday, freshman 3rd District Republican Derrick Van Orden asked USDA Undersecretary Jenny Lester Moffitt why the milkfat percentage of whole milk cannot be on the package for consumers to see. “We go to the store, we can buy skim milk, we can buy 1% milk, and we can buy 2% milk. Do you know what the fat content of whole milk is?” Moffitt replied, “I don’t. I want to say it’s somewhere around 6%.” Van Orden said, “It is not. It’s three and a half percent. That is the problem. So, people think they get skim milk, 1%, 2%, and they think they’re drinking butter when they have whole milk.”

Van Orden says consumers can identify skim, 1%, and 2% milk, but they can’t tell from the packaging what the fat content of whole milk is. “We have to be able to change this because we’re prohibited from marketing whole milk as three and a half percent milk, so people think they’re getting 6%, 10% or 15% and they believe that it’s unhealthy when in fact, it is the most healthy form of milk.

Undersecretary Moffitt committed to working with Van Orden’s staff to evaluate and possibly change the current whole milk marketing restriction.

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