Farmers Forum staff
Ongoing U.S.– Canada trade tensions have highlighted a health safety issue surrounding American milk. Canada would have to lower its safety standards if it were to start accepting American milk, an Ontario-based think tank says.
In a policy note released last month by Agri-Food Economic Systems, lead researcher Al Mussell argues that the United States’ Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) presents a food-safety concern.
“The U.S. has a bifurcated system of milk quality,” Mussell writes. He argues that U.S. Grade A standards permit milk with quality characteristics that would not be acceptable for sale from Canadian farms. For example, “there is a Canadian national standard for maximum SCC (somatic cell count) of 400,000 cells/ml². US Grade A allows up to 750,000 cells/ml³; it is thus incompatible with the Canadian SCC standard.”
Mussell added that the US Food and Drug Administration’s suspension in April 2025 of proficiency testing for laboratories involved in the Grade A milk system “creates additional risks for Canada in terms of dairy product imports from the U.S..”
Canada has historically accepted U.S. dairy products on the basis of like-product treatment.
To finish, Mussell proposes some measures that Canada could take. Among them, he says Canada should require labeling of its dairy imports from the U.S. and should request funding from the U.S. for milk lab proficiency testing.
