In follow up to the Hot Topics issue of December 2016 on the Mexican government's development of a new milk powder standard, USDEC is continuing its outreach to the MARA Advisory Group and all other U.S. milk powder manufacturers to request your feedback on the draft standard. USDEC has undertaken a thorough analysis of the compositional parameters, test methods and documentation requirements contained in this draft standard, and is asking for industry feedback on the comments and concerns noted. Click here to see this analysis, which incorporates all member feedback received to date, the responses of Mexico's government to questions already posed, and the USDEC staff's concerns following our internal review of the draft regulation.

The draft milk powder standard has not yet been notified to the WTO, so the formal 60 day comment period has not yet begun. However, with the understanding of the importance of the Mexican market to USDEC members, USDEC is reaching out ahead of the formal comment period to ensure we receive feedback from interested members and can submit complete comments as soon as the official comment period opens, or potentially beforehand if the Mexican government is willing to accept them.

All interested members are encouraged to review the draft standard, USDEC analysis and questions posed, and to provide comments on this Member Feedback Form. This form summarizes the comments made in the USDEC analysis, and also summarizes the questions on which we are seeking member feedback. Please reply by April 24, 2017 to Annie Bienvenue (abienvenue@usdec.org), Sandra Benson (sbenson@usdec.org) and Rodrigo Fernandez (rafernandez@usdecmexico.com).