If you’ve ever shopped for groceries in certain countries, you may have noticed large black warning symbols plastered on food packaging. Known as front-of-package labels, or FOPLs, these markings are designed to alert consumers when a product contains elevated levels of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat. The goal is to encourage healthier eating — but critics say the system is deeply flawed, often flagging a carton of whole milk or chocolate milk with warning signs while leaving a can of diet soda untouched.
When a public health policy ends up discouraging people from eating genuinely nutritious foods, something has gone wrong. That’s the argument being made by the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, who say these labeling systems misrepresent dairy’s well-documented health benefits and threaten demand in key export markets — ultimately hurting American dairy farmers.
Three Major Battles in Latin America
The most active regulatory fights are currently playing out across Latin America.
In Chile — a market that generated $100 million in U.S. dairy exports last year — a front-of-package labeling requirement has been in place since 2019. Under that system, milk, yogurt, and cheese that exceed government thresholds for calories, saturated fats, sugars, and sodium must carry prominent warning labels. The National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council have been teaming up with the Chilean Federation of Milk Producers to seek exemptions specifically for dairy products and to bring the labeling rules in line with Chile’s own dietary guidelines, which acknowledge dairy’s health value.
In Colombia, a market worth $183 million in U.S. dairy exports last year, regulators are considering a draft proposal that could classify most dairy products as “ultra-processed” — simply because making them involves certain processing steps or added functional ingredients. The two organizations filed formal comments with Colombian officials last month and are working alongside Colombian dairy industry partners to push for exemptions for nutrient-rich dairy foods.
In Mexico, the effort has been ongoing for six years. That market represents $2.6 billion in dairy exports, making the stakes enormous. The work there has focused on shaping Mexico’s labeling regulations in a more reasonable direction and preventing a final regulatory phase that could have banned many dairy products from publicly funded settings such as schools and hospitals.
Getting Policymakers Up to Speed on the Science
Changing policy requires more than advocacy — it requires educating the people who write the rules. To that end, the U.S. Dairy Export Council, with backing from the National Dairy Council and the National Milk Producers Federation, organized the NutriLact Congress 2026, a dairy nutrition conference held this past February in Lima, Peru. The event drew more than 300 scientists, health officials, policymakers, and other participants from 17 countries across Latin America. The conference made the case that dairy products play a unique role in filling nutritional gaps at every stage of life — from pregnancy and early childhood all the way through healthy aging.
What This Means for Dairy Farmers
A warning label on a block of cheese sold overseas might seem like a faraway concern, but the ripple effects are real. Reduced demand in export markets affects the bottom line for dairy farmers everywhere. The National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council say they are committed to ensuring American dairy isn’t unfairly branded with misleading warning symbols. Through regional partnerships and educational initiatives like NutriLact, the industry is working to build the long-term relationships needed to win this global labeling fight.
