National Milk Producers Federation

What is NCIMS?

The National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments is a non-profit organization whose goal is "To Assure the Safest Possible Milk Supply for All the People."

The Conference is made up of persons involved in the dairy industry, from the dairy farmer, to processing plant personnel, to those persons involved in inspecting the dairy farmer's operation and/or the processing plant, to those persons who make the laws concerning the inspections, to those who enforce the laws, to the academic researcher and adviser, to the consumer of the dairy products.

NCIMS meets biennially in odd-numbered years. The Conference had its first official meeting in 1950. To learn more, visit the NCIMS website.

Proposal to Reduce Somatic Cells Counts Defeated by National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments

The National Milk Producers Federation’s proposal to reduce the maximum level of somatic cell counts in milk – a measure of milk quality – was rejected on May 4, 2011, by the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS), which concluded its biennial meeting in Baltimore.

NMPF had asked the NCIMS voting delegates – a group of state regulators overseeing milk safety rules – to reduce the maximum threshold of allowable somatic cells in milk at the farm level from the current 750,000 cells/mL, down to 400,000, starting in 2014. But on a vote of 26-25, the voting delegates rejected the proposal, meaning that the status quo threshold of 750,000 cells will remain.

Read the full press release.

NMPF Delegates Adopt Resolution to Lower Somatic Cell Count

On October 26, 2010 during the NMPF Annual Meeting, the NMPF delegates passed a resolution to lower the Somatic Cell Count limit at the 2011 National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments.

The resolution calls for reducing SCC levels in a stepwise fashion to allow producers sufficient time to meet the lowered SCC requirements (600,000 per mL effective Jan. 1, 2012; 500,000 per mL by Jan. 1, 2013; and 400,000 per mL by Jan. 1, 2014).

The resolution also included a provision for regulatory discretion ― while assuring public health ― to temporarily allow for seasonality-dependent increases or events outside of human control, as well as continuation of current regulatory enforcement of a warning notice when two of the last four Somatic Cell Count tests exceed the limit, and suspension when three of the last five Somatic Cell Count tests exceed the limit.

The 33rd Biennial NCIMS will be held April 28 - May 4, 2011 at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center, Baltimore, Maryland.