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      • Dairy Economics and Unit Operations in Dairy Processing
      • Yogurts, Fermented Milks and Probiotic Dairy Products
      • Cheese Trivia with the Daphne Zepos Teaching Endowment
      • Dairy Basics: Fundamentals of Quality & Safety Workshop
      • Hazard Analysis & Preventive Controls for Small-Scale Dairy Processors Workshop
      • ACS Webinar: From Insights to Opportunity: Consumer Trends Driving Cheese Sales in 2024
      • ACS Webinar: Advances in Dairy Cattle Welfare Science
      • Vermont Cheese Summit
      • Affinage: The Art and Science of Maturing Cheese course
      • Affinage: The Art and Science of Maturing Cheese course
      • Affinage: The Art and Science of Maturing Cheese course
      • Affinage: the Art and Science of Maturing Cheese course
      • Dairy Products Innovation Conference
      • Hispanic and Mediterranean Short Course
      • Vermont Cheese Week Kickoff Celebration
      • Vermont Cheese Camp: The Land of Milk & Mountains
      • Vermont Cheese Camp: Cheese as a Way of Life
      • Dairy Plant Food Safety Workshop-Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy
      • Dairy Plant Food Safety Workshop-Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy
      • Biosecurity for On-Farm Dairy Processors
      • ACS Webinar: Evaluating the New Small Ruminant Mastitis Vaccine
      • Cheese Making Practical Shortcourse
      • ACS Webinar: Cutting Through the Quat: Tackling Dairy Wastewater Challenges
      • ACS Webinar: Shaping the Future of Artisan Cheese Through Today's Consumer Trends
      • The Dairy Connection on Milk and Cheese defects (Columbus, OHIO)
      • ACS Webinar: Brie-lliant Ideas: Building a Conference Proposal with the Education Committee
      • ACS Webinar: Two Approaches to the History of Ancient and Medieval Cheesemaking
      • Introduction to Artisan Cheesemaking: Milk to Make to Market
      • Affinage: Techniques, Microbes and Facilities
      • Advanced Cheesemaking: Simplifying Difficult Cheeses
      • 2025 Dairy Products Process & Packaging Innovation Conference
      • Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy Supplier Management Food Safety Workshop
      • ACS Webinar: The Insider's Guide to Entering ACS Judging & Competition
      • Introduction to Cheese Making Technology short course- Hands on!
      • Los Angeles International Dairy Competition
      • The Science & Craft of Raw Milk Cheese Conference
      • Dairy Pasteurization Short Course
      • Cheesemaking Short Course
      • Three-Day HACCP Short Course
      • Artisanal Cheesemaking
      • ACS Webinar: Latest Updates on Avian Flu Issues
      • Bolstering Your Dairy Foods Business, Through Successful Third Party Audits - NC State University
      • Introduction to Cheese Making Technology (spring, annually)
      • ACS Webinar: Unlock Salumiere Certification with the Charcuterie Professional Exam
      • Dairy Products 201
      • Counter Culture - Raleigh NC
      • Vermont Cheesemakers Festival 2025
      • ACS Certification - Live Ask Me Anything
      • ACS Conference Registration Opens!
      • ACS Conference Price Increase
      • ACS Conference Price Increase
      • ACS CCP® and ACS CCSE® Application Deadline
      • ACS J&C Entries Deadline
      • ACS Scholarship Application Deadline
      • ACS Award Nominations Deadline
      • ACS Judging & Competition
      • ACS Annual Conference
      • Vermont Cheese Week 2025
      • Frozen Desserts Innovation
      • Counter Culture Tampa - May 6, 2025
      • Counter Culture - San Diego May 16th
      • Dairy Plant Food Safety Workshop-Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy
      • Dairy Plant Food Safety Workshop-Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy
      • Dairy Plant Food Safety Workshop-Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy
      • Dairy Plant Food Safety Workshop-Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy
      • Summer Fancy Food Show
      • ACS Member Meetup at IDDBA
      • Crafting the Perfect Creamer: From Formula to Foam
      • ACS Webinar: EDIJ Audit Survey Results, Part 2: Caseinic Boogaloo
    • Submit Industry Event
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Advocacy & Engagement Timeline

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Advocacy & Engagement Timeline

American Cheese Society

Advocacy & Engagement Timeline

Ongoing: ACS engages with FDA on a regular basis via in-person meetings and phone calls to ensure open lines of communication and to build understanding of our industry.

2-12-2021: ACS Submits Comments to FDA on the Proposed Rule for Food Traceability

7-20-20: ACS Submits Comments to FDA on Food Standards and Food Standards Modernization

1-13-20: ACS Submits Comments to USTRO on Proposed New/Increased Tariffs

1-28-19: ACS Submits Comments to FDA on Use of the Names of Dairy Foods in the Labeling of Plant-Based Products

7-27-18: Deputy Director for Regulatory Affairs at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Mr. Douglas Stearn, shared an update on current food safety issues impacting our industry at the Annual ACS Conference in Pittsburgh, PA.

5-18-18: ACS leaders met with FDA to touch base regarding a number of issues of relevance to members, including: targeted sampling and testing of blue cheese; labeling issues; the use of wood boards in cheesemaking; the current pause on non-toxigenic E. coli testing as an indicator of insanitation in cheese; updated and expanded Standards of Identity (SOI); and new ACS resources centered on food safety. Read our full member update.

7-28-17: Jenny Scott, Senior Advisor, Office of Food Safety at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, shared an update with ACS members on current food safety issues impacting our industry.

2-17-17: The ACS Regulatory & Academic Committee incorporated FDA’s technical comments into the second edition of the ACS Best Practices Guide for Cheesemakers.

10-31-16: ACS submitted Comments on the Voluntary Sodium Reduction Targets to the Federal Register.

9-21-16: The Artisan Cheese Food Safety Advisory Group met to focus on how identified gaps in education, information, and outreach might be filled for artisan producers. ACS will take the helm on one initial project, the creation of a website that will serve as a free, robust portal accessing important food safety resources for cheesemakers. The site, to be launched in 2017, will consolidate the most current and up-to-date links to resources, extension and on-line learning, research, and local/regional support.

9-16-16: A report of outcomes from ACS’s July 27 Preventive Controls Working Group meeting was shared by ACS representatives at a September 16 meeting with FDA. All who attended the meeting agreed that these points offer a valid direction. While FDA made it clear that they do not feel raw milk as an ingredient can ever achieve the validated safety of pasteurized milk, they were open to the idea that a set of steps, or hurdles, taken in aggregate might form a food safety plan for raw milk cheese.

7-29-16: Dr. Nega Beru, Director, FDA CFSAN Office of Food Safety, shared an update with ACS Conference attendees in Des Moines this summer. The full presentation is available at ACS Education on Demand. The session addressed key stakeholder concerns including: Results of the Raw Milk Cheese Testing Pilot Program; the status of FDA’s pause in testing for non-toxigenic E. coli as an indicator organism; potential direction for the 60-day aging rule; conclusions drawn from the Risk for Listeriosis from the Consumption of Soft-ripened Cheese Risk Assessment; Preventative Controls for raw milk cheesemaking.

7-27-16: Leading academics, retailers, producers, and distributors met in Des Moines at the invitation of ACS to participate in a Preventive Controls Working Group. Under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), FDA considers not only Critical Control Points, but broader risk-based Preventive Control (PC) steps as part of a food safety plan. To this end, these industry stakeholders met to discuss what such PCs might look like for cheeses made with unpasteurized milk.

2-22-16: ACS sent a letter to FDA Deputy Director Michael Taylor and CFSAN Director Susan Mayne in follow up to the 2-11-16 meeting held with ACS members in Washington, DC. ACS also submitted a Request for Data to FDA for information from FDA’s Listeria Environmental Sampling Program and FDA’s Raw Milk Cheese Sampling Program.

2-11-16: ACS members met with FDA Deputy Director Michael Taylor for a Listening Session on raw milk cheese in Washington, DC. Read a press release with more details and outcomes from this meeting here.

12-10-15: A meeting was held between ACS and FDA representatives in Washington, DC on topics including non-toxigenic E. coli levels in raw milk cheese, FDA’s risk assessment of Listeria mono. in soft-ripened cheeses, and FDA’s raw milk cheese testing assignment, along with the ACS Best Practices Guide for Cheesemakers. See the meeting agenda and read the update from the FDA Meeting.

12-2-15: ACS received detailed technical comments from FDA on Chapters 1-5 of our Best Practices Guide for Cheesemakers, which will be reviewed by ACS’s Regulatory & Academic Committee.

10-29-15: ACS submitted its Response to U.S. FDA Request for Information Regarding Safe Production of Cheese from Unpasteurized Milk.

7-31-15: FDA representatives presented at the ACS Annual Conference in Providence, RI and FDA announced its request for comments from the public that would assist the agency in identifying and evaluating measures that might minimize the impact of harmful bacteria in cheeses made from unpasteurized milk.

7-30-15: ACS submits draft chapters 1-5 of the ACS Best Practices Guide for Cheesemakers to FDA for comment.

5-27-15: ACS sent an email to Mike Taylor on the 60-day aging rule for raw milk cheese as a follow up to 5-13 discussions; Taylor acknowledged and thanked us for the information provided in the email.

5-13-15: A meeting was held between ACS and FDA representatives in Washington, DC to discuss items including the timeline of a recent industry recall, and updates on FDA’s raw milk sampling program, FDA’s risk assessment for soft-ripened cheeses, the 60 day aging rule for raw milk cheese, and issues/delays with imported cheeses to the US. See the agenda.

2-10-15: FDA provides ACS with Artisanal Cheese Producer Inspections, Sample Collections, Analyses, Post Sampling Communications in response to our request for a guide that covers the steps producers can expect during an inspection, as well as when product is collected for sampling. It was shared with members via a member alert, “What To Expect When You’re Inspected.“

12-11-14: A meeting was held between ACS and FDA representatives in Washington, DC on topics including non-toxigenic E. coli in raw milk cheese, risk assessment of Listeria mono. in soft-ripened cheeses, raw milk cheese testing assignment, and other timely concerns (see the agenda).

9-10-14: ACS sent a letter to William Correll, Director, Office of Compliance for CFSAN/FDA, requesting clarification on why the non-toxigenic E. coli limit for raw milk cheese was changed.

8-15-14: ACS sent a letter to Michael Taylor to follow-up on a number of issues including the ACS Best Practices Guide for Cheesemakers, limits for non-toxigenic E. coli in raw milk cheese, wood surfaces for aging cheese, and other timely industry concerns. In this letter, ACS confirmed a plan to meet with FDA 2-4 times annually to connect proactively on industry issues, rather than merely in response to urgent issues.

7-29-14: A team from FDA, including Michael Taylor, met with ACS representatives at the ACS Annual Conference in Sacramento, CA. Mr. Taylor presented to ACS members at the Conference.

6-13-14: ACS sent a letter to Michael Taylor on the issue of aging cheese on wood boards.

6-10-14: ACS issued a Statement on the Safety of Aging Cheese on Wood.

4-7-14: ACS sent a letter to Michael Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods at FDA, requesting an in-person meeting to discuss critical issues for the industry.

12-20-13: ACS disseminates a member alert, “FDA Launching Pilot Program to Sample and Test Domestic and Imported Raw Milk Cheese.”

5-22-13: ACS presented comments at a joint FSIS/FDA Public Meeting on the Interagency Retail Listeria monocytogenes Risk Assessment.

4-19-13: ACS submitted comments to the Federal Register in response to the Joint FDA/Health Canada Quantitative Assessment of the Risk of Listeriosis from Soft-Ripened Cheese Consumption in the US and Canada – Draft Report.

12-17-12: ACS sent a letter to FDA’s John Sheehan with updates on our work, a request for information about FDA’s raw milk cheese risk assessment, and an invitation to present at the ACS Conference. ACS leadership also sent letters to elected officials around the country in support of raw milk cheese.

4-12-12: ACS issued a Statement on the Safety of Raw Milk Cheese.

1-31-12: Kate Arding, ACS Board Member, attended an FDA public meeting in Washington, DC and shared the views of ACS on foodborne illness source attribution and product traceability.

4-20-11: David Gremmels, ACS President, attended an FDA public meeting in Washington, DC and shared the views of ACS on preventive control regulation and guidance.

3-8-11: ACS leaders met with FDA staff at their CFSAN offices.

11-17-10: ACS issued a Statement on Safe Cheesemaking and a Statement on the Importance of Artisan, Farmstead, and Specialty Cheese.

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PO Box 3406

Englewood, CO 80155

phone: +1 720-328-2788

email: info@cheesesociety.org

  • Contact Us
  • American Cheese Education Foundation
  • Bylaws
  • Member & Events Code of Conduct
  • Privacy & Terms
  • Search
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