Imported "Mystery Milk" In Our ICE CREAM?
Status: Comment Deadline on Docket Nos. 2003P-0132 & 2000P-1491was 12/27/05,
FDA is Now Reviewing Public Comments on Flawed Proposal
 

A RED ALERT

TO ICE CREAM LOVERS

EVERYWHERE!

Here’s the scoop—Greedy dairy processors have petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to allow harmful changes to the federal standards of identity for ice cream, frozen custard and other frozen desserts. These changes, sought by the International Ice Cream Association (IICA), would change the definition of milk to permit the use of globally-sourced “mystery milk” from animals other than cows (sheep, goats, yaks, water buffalo, etc.) in ice cream along with other unappealing compromises. Imagine having imported Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC) as a primary ingredient in your ice cream!

YUK! Ice cream made from cheap “mystery milk” and MPCs sourced from anywhere in the world, including countries with low sanitation standards, is BAD NEWS for American ice cream lovers and dairy farmers alike. The proposed changed would forever alter our favorite frozen dessert beyond recognition.

How greedy processors want to ruin our Ice Cream:

LEARN MORE ABOUT IT!
Check out the Advance notice of proposed rulemaking published September 27, 2005 in the Federal Register.  The Docket Nos. are 2003P-0132 and 2000P-1491. Please take special note of the key text highlighted in yellow and red alert markers. Public comments to FDA were due December 27, 2005.

Ü CNN/Money.com NEWS COMMENTARY: Arguing about Ice Cream: Cherry-vanilla water buffalo ice cream
Ü Mission Possible International FDA'S NASTY PROPOSAL FOR "MYSTERY MILK" (AND ASPARTAME) FOR ICE CREAM
Ü The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Study on Multipotential Carcinogenic Effects of Aspartame

 Discussion Points re: the FDA’s Proposed Ice Cream Standards Changes:

• “The use of milk from source animals other than cows in the making of ice cream and frozen custard and sherbet.”
      Analysis: FDA wants to allow use of “source animals other than cows” in your ice cream. If “other species” milks are used, milk from those animals must be listed in the tiny print of the ingredients panel. But how many persons read the ingredients on their ice cream container? Allowing other species’ milks in ice cream is bad because: 1) Consumers don’t want milk from goats, sheep, yaks, or water buffalo in our ice cream. 2) Other species’ milks would likely be IMPORTED. These products are not produced under the sanitary and quality standards to which U.S. milk products are produced. 3) It is fraudulent and deceptive to consumers to change ice cream standards so that other species’ milks may be used in ice cream.
   
• “The use of any safe and suitable milk-derived ingredients in the manufacture of frozen desserts.”
      Analysis: This language fronts for use of imported Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC) in ice cream. Use of MPC in processed food products in the U.S. is rampant, but FDA repeatedly fails to require that MPC be subjected to mandatory safety tests under FDA’s “Generally Recognized As Safe” rules. “Safe and suitable” is bad because: 1) Any milk-derived ingredient developed after 1958 should be specifically tested under the GRAS rules, or products containing such ingredients should be considered adulterated. It is wrong to assume that just because a product is derived from milk, it both safe and nutritionally equivalent. 2) FDA does not determine how “safe and suitable” are determined.
   
• “…IICA asserts that the milk-derived ingredients in the proposed categories are nutritionally and functionally equivalent when used in frozen desserts …”
      Analysis: FDA and IICA are caught in a contradiction. Not all dairy proteins are the same. Earlier in the FDA document, it is stated: “IICA asserts that whey proteins have a higher nutritional value than other milk proteins and higher protein digestibility than milk.” Thus, by the proponents’ own words, not all dairy proteins are nutritionally equal.) 1) Not all milk-derived ingredients have the same nutritional bio-availability. For example, products such as MPCs probably have less bio-available protein than other forms of dairy products, such as whey and fresh milk. Dairy protein sources that have been dried may have an annealing (hardening) of the proteins, which reduces nutritional availability 2) Studies have shown that MPCs, for example, do not have 100% solubility in cheese manufacture. That suggests that MPCs would not have the same solubility as certain other dairy ingredients in ice cream manufacture. The result could be varying taste, texture and nutritional value.
   
• “(3)(i) If the food is subject to the requirements of paragraph (c)(2)(ii) of this section or if it contains an artificial flavor not simulating the characterizing flavor, the label shall also bear the words “artificial flavor added” …
      Analysis: BEWARE! This paragraph opens the door for hiding the presence of Aspartame/NutraSweet. FDA is once again trying to subvert the wishes and safety concerns of many consumers by disguising the presence of Aspartame/NutraSweet in ice cream, through these proposed rules changes. FDA considers Aspartame/NutraSweet an artificial flavor. Such language would remove the requirement that the presence of Aspartame/NutraSweet be noticed on the front panel of ice cream. Aspartame/NutraSweet is a neurotoxin with many recognized negative health effects.
   
• “… no economic harm or consumer deception would result from the proposed amendments.” “The basic nature of the food is directly related to consumer expectations and beliefs about the food.”
      Analysis: It is a consumer deception even if FDA puts notice on the ingredients’ panel of ice cream packages that the product contains milk from alternate species (e.g., goats, sheep). Few consumers study the ingredients panel on a package of ice cream—either at time of purchase or at time of consumption in the home. Further, many instances occur when consumers have no access to the ingredients’ label of ice cream—such as purchases away from home. Thus, the ingredients’ listing of alternate species’ milk products has absolutely no value to these persons, who would otherwise be skeptical of ice cream products containing milk from species of mammals that are not traditionally associated with ice cream. The basic nature of ice cream, in the consumer’s mind, is that the dairy ingredients are made from cow’s milk.

EXACTLY WHO WANTS TO PUT “MYSTERY MILK” IN OUR ICE CREAM??
Following is board of directors of the International Ice Cream Association, the industry group seeking harmful changes to our ice cream. Source: IDFA.org. Note: IICA is a subgroup of International Dairy Foods Association, a big North American processor lobbying group pushing for Free Trade.

Officers
Chair:  Mr. James B. Green, Kemps, LLC, HP Hood LLC
Vice Chair:  Mr. Tim Kahn, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc.
Secretary:  Mr. Douglas J. Wells, Wells' Dairy, Inc.
Treasurer:  Mr. Brian T. Perry, Perry's Ice Cream Company, Inc.

Advisory Committee
Mr. Paul Kruse, Blue Bell Creameries, L.P.
Mr. William R. Oldenburg, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc.
Mr. Thomas C. Perry, Perry's Ice Cream Company, Inc.
Mr. Gary M. Wells, Wells' Dairy, Inc.

Executive Committee (Officers, Advisory Committee, and the following Directors)
Mr. Roger Capps, Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc.
Mr. John D. Cox, Turkey Hill Dairy, Inc.
Mr. Craig E. Fullmer, Safeway Inc.
Mr. Louis G. Galliker, Galliker Dairy Company
Mr. Kirk Heissel, Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream
Mr. James (Jay) Jaskiewicz, Publix Super Markets, Inc.
Mr. Tim Kelbel, Manufacturing Division - Dairy, The Kroger Co.
Mr. C. Scott Mayfield Jr., Mayfield Dairy Farms, Inc., Dean Dairy Group - Southeast Region
Ms. Corrinne Colombo Reed, International Dairy Queen, Inc.
Mr. Alfred Schwan, The Schwan Food Company

Directors
Mr. Bennie Brigham, Pecan Deluxe Candy Company
Mr. Gary Cates, Dean Dairy Group - Midwest Region, Dean Foods Company
Mr. Joseph C. Dager, Corporate Office, Velvet Ice Cream Company, Inc.
Mr. Scott Geringer, Sensient Flavors
Mr. Charles Green, Brigham's Ice Cream Inc.
Mr. Paul Hagen, Schoep's Ice Cream Co., Inc.
Mr. Alfred Hensler, Masterfoods USA
Mr. George Hugh Holder, Hershey Creamery Company
Mr. Curt Jones, Dippin' Dots Inc.
Mr. John P. Klinke, Klinke Brothers Ice Cream Company
Mr. Kenneth O. Kohlwey, Cedar Crest Specialties, Inc.
Mr. Mel A. MacConnell, Scotsburn Co-op Services, Limited
Mr. Raymond A. Minzner Jr., Continental Custom Ingredients, Inc.
Mr. Doug Olsem, The Schwan Food Company
Mr. Michael W. Parsons, Danisco USA Inc.
Mr. Brian T. Perry, Perry's Ice Cream Company, Inc.
Mr. Chris Prasifka, Carvel Corporation
Mr. T. Gary Rogers, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc.
Ms. Shelley Roth, Pierre's French Ice Cream Company
Mr. Ken Schwartz, Jack & Jill Ice Cream Company
Mr. James Taft, Star Kay White Inc.
Mr. Steve Turner, Turner Dairy, Turner Holdings LLC
Mr. Eric Walsh, Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream
Mr. Mike Wheeler, HP Hood LLC
Mr. A. Rogers Yarnell, Yarnell Ice Cream Company, Inc.
Mr. John Zomermaand, Friendly Ice Cream Corporation