Organization Spotlight: Global Interaction with the International Dairy Federation
For the California dairy industry to remain a strong force in the global market, it is important to partner with international dairy organizations. The go-to organization for scientific and technical dairy expertise on a global scale is the International Dairy Federation (IDF). CDRF’s Executive Director Joe O’Donnell has worked with IDF for many years. He is a past chairman of the IDF Standing Committee in Nutrition and Health and currently serves as program chair for the 2008 IDF World Dairy Summit, which is in Mexico City this November.
IDF membership includes 53 countries and accounts for 82 percent of the worldwide milk production. IDF represents the dairy sector worldwide by providing the best global source of scientific expertise and knowledge in the development and promotion of quality milk and dairy products to deliver nutrition, health and well-being to consumers. IDF achieves this by developing scientific knowledge, exchanging information, addressing global developments and facilitating networking.
IDF is made up of national committees, constituted by dairy organizations in each country. The national committees nominate representatives for IDF working bodies and promote IDF to the dairy sector in their countries, as well as providing funding to IDF.
National committees are represented in the general assembly, which is the supreme authority of IDF. A board of directors contributes to the development and achievement of objectives, and the Science and Programme Coordination Committee ensures coordination and supervision of scientific, technical and economic consideration of dairy issues. The daily organization of activities are managed at the IDF head office, under the leadership of Director General Christian Robert.
IDF Services
IDF provides a source of authoritative dairy scientific and technical information through newsletters, bulletins, guidelines and review papers. IDF provides expert advice covering a wide range of dairy issues through its 1,200 member experts. IDF organizes an annual World Dairy Summit and other international seminars to provide discussion of worldwide dairy issues and global networking opportunities for members.
IDF Partners with Other International Organizations
IDF is the platform for the international dairy sector to discuss standards for international trade and to achieve consensus on issues discussed in Codex. The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). IDF experts work with the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products. Besides dairy commodity standards, IDF’s current activities in Codex focus on:
• Food hygiene and safety,
• Food labeling and additives,
• Methods of analysis and sampling,
• Nutrition,
• Contaminant and drug residues,
• Export certification systems.
IDF and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) jointly develop and publish international standard methods for sampling and analysis for milk and milk products. IDF and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) partnership allows exchange of knowledge and information on the dairy sector and any aspects of animal health, welfare and food safety.
IDF and FAO have developed several joint publications including:
• FAO/IDF Guide to Good Dairy Farming Practice (2004),
• FAO/IDF Issue: A farm-to-table approach for emerging and developed dairy countries (2005),
• FAO/IDF Annual Dairy Development Newsletter.
To download free copies of these, go to the IDF Web site at www.fil-idf.org and click on publications, then free publications.
IDF and Environmental Issues
IDF recently announced that it will be increasing its focus on improving the global dairy industry’s environmental positioning. IDF Director General Christian Robert stated, “IDF is already leading projects on environmental issues, such as fresh water treatment, re-use of processed water, reducing on-farm emissions of greenhouse gases, effluent treatment and reduction of dust. But this new initiative should add to our understanding of the issues and improve our ability to guide the dairy industry down the path of sustainability.”
For more information about IDF, visit www.fil-idf.org. IDF’s new dairy nutrition Web site can be accessed at www.idfdairynutrition.org.
