World Food Safety Day, an interview with IDFs Science and Standards Programme Managers Aurelie Dubois, and Laurence Rycken

World Food Safety Day is celebrated annually on 7 June to “draw attention and mobilize action to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks and improve human health”. At IDF, we have interviewed Aurelie Dubois and Laurence Rycken, Science and Standards Programme Managers, who engaged in an interesting dialogue about food safety and its impact on […]
IDF Dairy Leaders Panel 2021: “We must create the future of dairy now”

“We must reduce the dairy productions climate impact. At the same time, dairy farms must improve their storytelling abilities when it comes to communicating the milk’s good qualifications and all the initiatives that are taken to make the sector sustainable” Peder Tuborgh, CEO, Arla Jørgen Hald, CEO of, Danish Dairy Board, and Steen Nørgaard Madsen, Chair […]
World dairy experts to gather in Copenhagen: Registration now open for the IDF World Dairy Conference

Titled ‘A Changing Climate for Dairy’, the International Dairy Federation (IDF) will hold its annual meetings in Copenhagen in conjunction with the IDF Global Dairy Conference on 13th – 15th October. 350 dairy people are expected worldwide to participate together with several hundred additional on-line participants. The ‘IDF Global Dairy Conference 2021’ will have its […]
IDF releases bulletin on methods for determination of somatic cell count

In the dairy sector throughout the world, there is a desire to optimize udder health. Good udder health leads to improved animal welfare, improved production efficiency, stronger animal health, and reduction of the use of antimicrobials. Usually, when an infection occurs, milk somatic cell counts (SCC) in the udder increases. Therefore, milk SCC is used […]
IDF Cheese Symposium goes virtual for the first time ever!

Every 4 years, The IDF Cheese Science and Technology Symposium is held and co-organised by FIL-IDF Canada and the Quebec STELA Dairy Research Centre of Université Laval. The 2021 completely virtual edition gathered international scientific experts to share the latest research findings and technology innovations. Throughout the week, the virtual formula offered an enhanced conference […]
Improving consistency in milk somatic cell counting – Guidance on application of EC JRC Certified Reference Material released

Joint guidance prepared by IDF and ICAR represents a further step towards better equivalence in somatic cell counting worldwide. Milk somatic cell count (SCC) is a widely used indicator for monitoring the udder health of several mammalian species and is relevant in food hygiene regulations, milk payment testing, farm management and breeding programmes. In February […]
Outcome of IDF/ISO analytical meetings

Meeting wrap-up – IDF/ISO virtual analytical meetings Due to the current pandemic of COVID-19, IDF and ISO have just wrapped up their first digital meetings. 13 calls were held with approximately 100 participants attending one or several of the meetings. All meetings were productive, and participants respected the virtual meeting rules. In terms of outcomes, […]
Joint IDF and ICAR initiative to improve consistency in milk somatic cell counting

Certified reference materials launched by EC Joint Research Centre
The challenge of balancing milk supply in times of crisis: Why some farmers have to discard raw milk during the COVID-19 pandemic

Like many other sectors, the dairy supply chain has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, adapting milk production due to a serious drop in market demand resulting from the abrupt albeit temporary closing of restaurants, hotels and school, is not an easy and quick thing to do. Despite strong demand for basic foods like […]
Major progress on food safety guidance achieved at Codex

The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) was held 4-8 November 2019 in Cleveland (US). Two major pieces of work were completed during this session: The Proposed Draft Code of Practice on Food Allergen Management for Food Business Operators CCFH agreed to send it to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) for adoption at step 8 […]