Raising the Minimum Nonfat Solids Standard to the National Average in Raw Milk: A Study of Fluid Milk Identity Standards [PDF]

Dairy farmers are becoming increasingly concerned that technological advances in the fractionation of milk could result in a reduction in the volume of nonfat milk solids sold in fluid milk products. Current FDA standards for nonfat solids in fluid milk products are set at a minimum of 8.25 percent, well below the average content in farm milk. Fluid milk products are Class I products under the Federal Milk Marketing Order system and as such return a higher price to dairy farmers. In response to dairy farmers’ concerns, Congress included a provision in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 directing the Secretary of Agriculture to study the potential impacts of raising the nonfat solids standards to the national average level as it occurs in farm milk and adopting the average true protein level as an additional standard for fluid milk products.