Pause in FDA Proficiency Program Does Not Affect Safety or Quality of Milk and Dairy Products
WASHINGTON, April 24, 2025—Roberta Wagner, senior vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs at the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), issued the following statement today clarifying a pause in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) lab proficiency testing program.
“The suspension of FDA’s Grade ‘A’ proficiency testing program does not reduce the types or frequency of milk quality tests for Grade ‘A’ milk or finished dairy products as it makes its way from farms to stores across the country. All Grade ‘A’ milk continues to be subject to stringent testing and oversight throughout the supply chain—on the farm, before transportation, and multiple times at processing facilities—by both state and federal regulators, as outlined in the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance. Milk and dairy product safety remains a top priority in the United States, and consumers can continue to trust that the dairy products they purchase at retail are safe to consume. The FDA is actively evaluating alternative approaches for its annual evaluation of laboratories that test required Grade A milk samples, which is the purpose of proficiency testing and evaluation programs. FDA will keep all participating laboratories informed as new information becomes available.”
Background
The paused program was a proficiency check for laboratories, not a test of the milk or dairy products themselves. It served as an internal evaluation tool to ensure FDA-affiliated labs could accurately analyze milk samples. Many of these labs are also evaluated by third-party programs to ensure proficiency. Under the proficiency program, labs are asked to test milk samples spiked by FDA with microbiological, animal drug and chemical contaminants. The labs are evaluated on whether their results concur with those of FDA reference labs for each sample. FDA spikes the samples, analyzes them, and then allocates them into appropriate shipping containers and sends them to labs for analysis. The results need to match closely the results of FDA plus or minus a small percentage. FDA has stated they are committed to finding alternative methods to maintain the lab performance monitoring and will share those alternatives when identified.
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Contact: press@idfa.org
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industry, which supports more than 3.2 million jobs that generate $49 billion in direct wages and $794 billion in overall economic impact. IDFA’s diverse membership ranges from multinational organizations to single-plant companies, from dairy companies and cooperatives to food retailers and suppliers, all on the cutting edge of innovation and sustainable business practices. Together, they represent most of the milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt and cultured products, and dairy ingredients produced and marketed in the United States and sold throughout the world. Delicious, safe and nutritious, dairy foods offer unparalleled health and consumer benefits to people of all ages.