By JANE HOUIN
Ohio Correspondent

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio — Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Robert Boggs last week said the state’s consumers were a top priority for the department.

Boggs spoke while discussing changes made to the proposed dairy labeling rule. The rule maintains its original strong consumer focus. The modified rule reflects changes prompted by written comments submitted to the department as well as by comments provided at a public hearing about the proposed rule at the department on March 12.

“Ohio consumers are entitled to accurate and complete information when making decisions about the food products they buy,” Boggs said. “We thoughtfully reviewed all of the comments we received about the proposed rule. We believe that we have developed the proper balance between assuring that consumers receive the information they need and deserve, while imposing the least possible burden on product processors necessary to protect consumer interests.”

The original ruling was designed to provide guidelines for the language permitted on milk and milk product labeling as well as to establish a verification process for marketing organizations and labeling entities.

“After months of input from consumers and industry stakeholders this rule was developed to give guidance to the dairy industry to prevent mislabeled products,” Boggs said of the original rule. “Our No. 1 goal is to provide consumers with safe and healthy foods, and to offer clear and consistent information about the food consumers purchase. Ohio’s dairy labels will offer consumers information about how their food is produced.”

The modified proposed rule, which improves upon the 90-day emergency rule expiring on May 7, has several key components. Under the modified rule, milk product labels generally may not make “compositional absence claims” like “Hormone Free” or “rbST Free.”

These claims are either not provable or disclaim the presence of substances which may not legally be present in milk products.
Secondly, milk labels may make accurate “production claims” which reflect the way a dairy product was produced. For example, claims that milk was produced from cows not injected with antibiotics, if true, may appear on the product label.

And additionally, the labels must include, along with any permissible production claim about the use of rbST, a statement regarding the FDA’s determination that no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-supplemented and non-rbST-supplemented cows.

Since there is no test to detect rbST in milk, the rule places the burden of verification on the marketing organization or labeling entity, which must be able to prove production claims are accurate through proper documentation.

For instance, producer-signed affidavits, farm weight tickets, and processing plant audit trails are among some of the supporting documents that must be readily available for ODA inspection.
“While some would have preferred that we not include the requirement that rbST production claims also carry with them information about the FDA determination, we believe that it would be misleading to give consumers only one of two critically interconnected pieces of information,” Boggs said.

Under the modified proposed rule, the FDA determination must appear contiguously to any accurate rbST production claim in a font size no less than one-half the font size of the rbST production claim.

Milk product processors will have 120 days to come into compliance with the rule.

The original emergency rule signed by Gov. Ted Strickland in February prohibited the mislabeling of dairy products and defining what constitutes false and misleading labels for dairy products.
The emergency rule, which became effective immediately, established acceptable, more consistent labeling practices for dairy marketing organizations and labeling entities pertaining to rbST.
The emergency rule provides guidance to the dairy industry and helps interpret the existing law contained in Ohio Revised Code 917.05 and 3715.60. These laws authorize ODA to take enforcement action if a dairy label contains false or misleading statements.

The emergency rule is in effect for 90 days while ODA completes the statutory rule-making process through the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. As part of the process, a formal public hearing will be held on April 8 at 10 a.m. on its campus in Reynoldsburg to gather public testimony on the modified proposed rule.

Currently, the rule is scheduled to be reviewed by JCARR on April 21.

To view a copy of the modified rule, visit the Register of Ohio website at www.registerofohio.state.oh.us