NMC Submits Proposal to
Lower the SCC Regulatory Limit
in US to 400,000

This is NMC's fifth proposal to change the SCC limit since 1999

During the National Mastitis Council 50th Annual Meeting, held January 23-26, 2011, in Arlington, Virginia, the NMC Board of Directors voted to submit a proposal to the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) to lower the somatic cell count (SCC) regulatory limit in the United States from the current 750,000 to 400,000 cells/ml. The proposal will be considered at the upcoming Conference, April 29-May 4, 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland [for more information about NCIMS: www.ncims.org].

The NMC proposal recommends a stepwise drop in the SCC limit from 750,000 to 400,000 cells/ml with an effective date of January 1, 2014.

In addition, regulatory action would be based on a three-month rolling average SCC (calculated using a geometric mean) rather than the current three out of five consecutive samples exceeding the SCC limit.

The NMC proposal allows for a one-year delay to implement a plan to take monthly samples and to calculate rolling geometric mean, and then the SCC limit is reduced over a two-year period to 400,000 cells/ml.

A suggested timetable as proposed by NMC follows:

Why Lower the SCC?

Herd bulk tank milk SCCs are used worldwide as indicators of herd mastitis control; the hygienic conditions under which the milk is produced; and the quality/suitability of the raw milk supply for fluid milk and manufactured dairy products.

SCC standards are used to define milk as either suitable or not suitable for human consumption. The US SCC standard is the most lenient of any of the developed countries of the world. The vast majority of dairy producing countries, and particularly those with significant international trade of milk and milk products, have adopted 400,000 as the acceptable upper limit for herd bulk tank milk intended for human consumption.

Reducing the US standard to 400,000 would lead to:

o improved consumer confidence in the safety and wholesomeness of the US milk supply
o improved consumer confidence that the milk supply is produced by healthy cows
o harmonization of standards for international trade of milk and milk products
o improved competitive position of the US dairy industry in the global market place
o reduced risk of antimicrobial residues in milk
o reduced risk of the presence of human bacterial pathogens and their toxic products in the milk supply
o greater profits to producers through decreased herd level of mastitis

Adopting the rolling geometric mean calculation for herd SCC would provide producers with a valuable management statistic and would lead to increased international harmonization of standards as nearly all major dairy producing countries use the geometric mean calculation. The geometric mean is the mathematically correct statistic to use for averaging SCC data. Adopting a geometric mean based on three consecutive monthly samples would reduce the possible volatility in herd SCC observed in some herds where one cow can have a major impact on SCC, and/or the volatility observed with season of the year and adverse weather conditions.

The technology is available to all US dairy producers to consistently produce milk with a somatic cell count less than 400,000. Meeting this internationally acceptable standard would not constitute a hardship for the vast majority of producers who are producing a quality product. Lowering the standard gradually will result in improvements in milk quality and safety in a manner that should avoid constituting an acute hardship on producers currently not meeting a tighter SCC standard. Reducing herd SCC will also increase producer profits as milk yield increases as SCC decreases.

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