IDF’s mission is to help nourish the world with safe and sustainable dairy.
The growing world population needs nutritional security, and we must provide this both safely and sustainably. IDF provides a mechanism for the dairy sector to reach global consensus on how to help feed the world with safe and sustainable dairy products. As the peak body for the global dairy sector, IDF has an important role to play in ensuring the right policies, standards, practices and regulations are in place to achieve this goal.
Since 1903, IDF is a recognized international authority which contributes actively to the development of science-based standards for the dairy sector.
IDF and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have established a joint IDF/ISO work programme for the development of standard methods of analysis and sampling for milk and milk products.
IDF has working relationships with several global intergovernmental organizations, and has a formal status with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme – Codex Alimentarius.
IDF members are organized in National Committees, which are national associations composed of representatives of all dairy-related national interest groups including dairy farmers, dairy processing industry, dairy suppliers, academics and governments/food control authorities.