The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released the electronic version of the 2017 Grade “A” Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), which contains changes adopted during the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) conference in May 2017.

The PMO is a set of standards and requirements that regulates all dairy plants producing Grade “A” products, including fluid milk, cream products, yogurt, cottage cheese, eggnog, buttermilk and many dried dairy products.

IDFA and its members successfully advocated for updates that harmonize the PMO with FDA’s “Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food” rule, which covers most FDA-regulated foods. The rule contains a set of general requirements that lay out a framework for food companies to apply when developing comprehensive, risk-based food safety plans specific to their plants.

The 2017 PMO incorporates many of the regulatory requirements of the rule into a new Appendix T. The updates include having a written hazard analysis, detailed descriptions of preventive food safety controls that protect Grade “A” dairy products from potential hazards, and appropriate monitoring and verification programs to demonstrate effectiveness of the controls.

FDA regulators will conduct inspections every 36 months to ensure compliance with the new Appendix T requirements. The traditional quarterly inspections by state regulators to verify compliance with the main parts of the PMO will continue with some additional checks such as ensuring proper control of allergen-containing ingredients.

Download, “Grade ‘A’ Pasteurized Milk Ordinance 2017 Revision.”

The next NCIMS Conference will be held April 26-May 1, 2019, in St. Louis, Mo.

Members with questions may contact Cary Frye, IDFA senior vice president of regulatory affairs, at cfrye@idfa.org, or John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards, at jallan@idfa.org.