USDA issues interim final rule on Dairy mandatory reporting program
Washington – The U. S. Department of Agriculture today issued an interim final rule establishing a Dairy Product Mandatory Reporting Program as required by law. The Dairy Market Enhancement Act of 2000, and certain provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish the program.
28 June 2007
1 minute read
The mandatory reporting program will provide timely, accurate, and reliable market information to facilitate more informed marketing decisions and promote competition in the dairy product manufacturing industry. The program will: (1) Require persons engaged in manufacturing dairy products to report certain information including the price, quantity, and moisture content where applicable, of dairy products sold by the manufacturer; and (2) Require persons storing dairy products to report information on the quantity of dairy products stored. Under the interim final rule, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will collect the information. Any manufacturer that processes and markets less than 1 million pounds of dairy products per year is exempt from the reporting requirements.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will implement a plan to verify the price information submitted to NASS. AMS will visit butter, nonfat dry milk, cheese and dry whey manufacturers that file reports. AMS will verify that eligible sales transactions agree with information reported to NASS and will check for eligible sales transactions that were not reported.
The interim final rule will be published in a future issue of the Federal Register. Public comments are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. Comments may be filed by visiting www.regulations.gov. USDA will issue a final rule once public comments have been received.
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