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The importance of milk and dairy products as a commodity sector within the world’s agricultural and nutritional landscape continues to grow despite a steady decline in actual fluid milk consumption. As a source of protein unparalleled in its versatility and the ability to be converted to shelf-stable forms for long-term nutritional benefit around the globe, the role of milk and dairy products will continue to be vital to feeding the world’s population.

No commodity has been surrounded by as complex a regulatory structure in terms of production requirements, sanitation and food safety and pricing controls and income support mechanisms, not only at the federal level but also including robust state level regulatory involvement. This virtual resource room endeavors to collect a representative set of resources for legal and other researchers’ ready access to the full scope of that regulatory structure presently in place, acknowledging that it is just one selected set of resources organized in one particular format and does not endeavor to capture the historical breadth of dairy’s regulatory history giving rise to what exists today. 

This guide is intended to represent a collection of legal resources relating to dairy and dairy products law. While the Center for Agricultural and Shale Law makes every effort to maintain and update the content furnished in this guide, no warranty or other guarantee is made regarding the timeliness or accuracy of any information provided.  

 

The Center for Agricultural and Shale Law wishes to acknowledge Andie Parnell, Vermont Law School, Class of 2022, and Research Fellow with the National Agricultural Law Center (NALC) for her invaluable work as the primary architect and researcher whose work is reflected in this newly configured collection of resources. It is thanks to her, and former Penn State law students who acted as research assistants at the Center and contributed to the content, that this virtual resource room is now available to attorneys, dairy stakeholders, and the general public in beginning to understand the complexity and scope of dairy and dairy products law, regulation, and policy in the United States.