SILVER SPRING, Md. – Starting in 2024, U.S. consumers are going to begin seeing new formulations of yogurt on supermarket shelves.

On July 12, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule to modernize the standard of identity for yogurt. The FDA has more than 280 standards for a wide variety of food products.

The announcement comes more than 20 years after the yogurt industry first petitioned the agency to update the standard of identity, according to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), and more than 11 years since the agency first issued a proposed rule.

A standard of identity describes in detail what a food product must contain, how it must be proportioned and in some cases how it must be manufactured.

According to the FDA, the new, modernized standard of identity for yogurt allows for greater innovation and technical advances in yogurt production while maintaining yogurt’s basic nature and essential characteristics.

With yogurt, the final standard of identity requires it to contain a minimum of 3.25 percent milkfat, a minimum of 8.25 percent milk solids not fat, and a minimum of 0.7 percent titratable acidity expressed as lactic acid or maximum pH of 4.6, before the addition of bulky flavoring ingredients.

The new standard expands the allowable ingredients in yogurt to include safe and suitable milk-derived ingredients under certain conditions and additional sweeteners. Also, the final rule allows the use of reconstituted dairy ingredients, which is a concentrated or dry form of milk to which water is added to reconstitute the material to fluid form.

The new ruling permits various styles or textures of yogurt, such as Greek yogurt, as long as the products meet the requirements in the standard of identity.

The yogurt standard of identity was upgraded as part of the FDA’s Nutrition Innovation Strategy, which seeks to improve nutrition in order to reduce the burden of chronic and preventable disease.

A release from the National Milk Producers Federation stated that the “standards of identity is a key pillar of NMPF’s effort to ensure transparency in dairy-product labeling. The NMPF is pleased with the outcome this rule and FDA’s clear and precise response to the 32 issues it covers.”

Prior to the final rule, the FDA had set three different standards of identity for yogurt, low-fat and nonfat yogurt. Under the final rule, the standards of identity for low-fat and nonfat yogurt are revoked and all three products fall under one more flexible standard of identity.

The FDA stated that the intent of the rule was to modernize the yogurt standard to “allow for technological advances while preserving the basic nature and essential characteristics of yogurt” and promoting honesty and fair dealing for consumers.

The rule change means that more products made with suitable milk-derived ingredients can be classified as yogurt under certain conditions. The shift follows new advances in technology (colorings, cultures, flavors and preservatives), as well as changes in the types of milk used to make yogurt (cream, partially skimmed milk and skim milk).

The new rule also expands the allowable ingredients in yogurt, including sweeteners such as agave. It also establishes a minimum amount of live and active cultures yogurt must contain to bear the optional labeling statement “contains live and active cultures” or similar statement. For yogurt treated to inactive viable microorganisms, the statement “does not contain live and active cultures” is required on the label. Manufacturers can fortify yogurts, such as adding vitamins A and D, as long as they meet fortification requirements.

International Dairy Foods Association President and CEO Michael Dykes called the FDA’s move “a highly anticipated and much needed first step. We’re hopeful that such an all-encompassing regulatory modernization effort may allow for further changes to the yogurt standard in the future, consistent with the yogurt industry’s interests, along with modernization of the many other dairy product standards FDA regulates.”