Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Where is the dairy checkoff Report to Congress?

Where is the Report to Congress from the federal government's fluid milk and dairy checkoff programs?

USDA was supposed to submit the report in July, 2009, but seems unwilling to share it with the public. The annual report is usually full of great detail about the hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year to promote cheese, butter, milk, and other dairy products. Each year, I especially scan for the sections about partnerships with Wendy's and Pizza Hut to promote fast food products containing dairy. The last report on the AMS website is for July 2008. The delay makes me wonder, is there something particularly interesting in the report this year?

Every couple months, the nice folks in the public relations office for USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) respond to my polite emails asking for an update. They tell me the report is still under review at USDA. It seems appropriate finally to do a public post asking for an update.

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