Before, the FDA had allowed the use of UF milk in only some standardized
cheeses and also required extra labeling.
The changes now also allow ultrafiltration to be done at one plant and
shipment to another processing facility.
Ultrafiltered milk is a contentious issue in trade with Canada. It’s a
new product and therefore not on the list of dairy products that face high
tariffs to protect high-priced milk produced by Canadian farmers who are
members of provincial marketing boards.
Canadian farmers have responded by creating a new milk-pricing class so
Canadian processors can buy cheaper milk to produce ultrafiltered milk to
displace what they have been importing.
Farmers and processors in the U.S. are complaining about that pricing
policy, have filed preliminary papers with the World Trade Organization where
they could lodge a formal complaint and U.S. President Donald Trump says it
will be included in negotiations that begin Aug. 16 to update the North
American Free Trade Agreement.
UF milk is created by forcing milk through dense filters to remove water
and lactose.
Typically the process removes two-thirds of the water making it cheaper
to make cheese.
“It’s more practical and
economical to ship this liquid, filtered milk to cheesemakers, other dairy
manufacturers and even food processors in concentrated form,” said John
Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.
