The World Dairy Situation 2013, the International Dairy Federation’s (IDF) flagship publication, was presented during the dairy policies and economics conference at the IDF World Dairy Summit in Yokohama, Japan this week.
This comprehensive report is considered an essential resource by the global dairy community. It investigates major developments, new trends and the evolution of the demand for dairy products, as well as gathering statistics on production, consumption and trade in all regions of the world.
The country reports are a significant feature of the World Dairy Situation report. Individual nations, including IDF member countries, present information on their own dairy sectors, providing the most complete and detailed overview of the global dairy situation possible.
International experts also contributed to the Forum chapter, with an overview of the New Zealand and European dairy sectors. The issue of margins was much debated in the global; industry this year, with milk price on the one hand and production costs on the other. The forum chapter focuses on recent developments in farm-level margins and policy options. This section also includes a contribution on milk prices and costs worldwide.
The editor of the World Dairy Situation 2013, Dr Adriaan Krijger, commented: “Having a comprehensive understanding of global demand and supply trends, and the wide range of policy and economic factors that influence them, is essential for the both the industry and policy makers alike. The ‘World Dairy Situation’, produced annually by the IDF Standing Committee on Dairy Policies and Economics, is a major contribution toward that objective, as part of fulfilling the IDF’s mission to represent and support the dairy industry globally.” The report is available here.
Milk testing
Meanwhile, a new “moving-window approach” in microbiological milk testing will be presented today at the IDF World Dairy Summit as a practical and cost-effective solution that enables dairy producers to verify the performance and acceptability of the entire food safety system.
This new approach implies a change of focus from testing acceptability of individual batches of products to testing the acceptability of the performance of the process control system.
Commenting on this new application of microbiological criteria, Dr Jeremy Hill, IDF president, said: “Our sector today is a major source of essential nutrition and we are committed to develop innovative solutions to play an even bigger role in future sustainable, nutritious, safe and affordable diet. IDF was successful in introducing this new concept and trend analysis for the verification of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control) systems. We have enormous combined knowledge and expertise, and by working with our partners and collaborators we can enhance and focus this expertise on priority issues such as food safety.
“The new concept provides a more practical and cost-effective solution for food safety control. I encourage dairy processors to look into the application of this approach within the dairy plants.”
The new method has been developed under the umbrella of the IDF Standing Committee on Microbiological Hygiene, in close collaboration with the Codex Alimentarius, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation. It is already in operation in Denmark and Japan just this month.
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