Announcement on Formats Available for the Interstate Milk Shippers (IMS) List

Under the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS), the Grade "A" Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) is the Model Ordinance used in the voluntary Cooperative State-PHS/FDA Program for the certification and listing of Interstate Milk Shippers (IMS) and is distributed under the authorities of the Public Health Service Act and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The NCIMS program includes all states, the District of Columbia, U.S. Trust Territories and Foreign milk shippers in accordance with NCIMS/FDA Memorandum of Understanding. The IMS List also includes a complete listing of FDA and State personnel (name and address) who are involved in the oversight of the Grade "A" milk safety program.

As announced in the July 2004 issue of the IMS List, due to budget constraints, FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), announced that it would seek approval to change the "Procedures" document to discontinue the printing of the IMS List and to only distribute the list in electronic format. The 2005 NCIMS Conference agreed to the discontinuation of the printing of the IMS List; therefore, the July 2005 issue was the last printing. Following are details for obtaining this publication in electronic format:

Electronic Format

This format provides the IMS List in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), which will allow users to view and print the list in whole or in part similar to the previously distributed printed copy. Users who want this format should subscribe online to provide their email address. In order to open and print the PDF file, subscribers will need the Adobe® Reader® software which can be obtained at no cost from the Adobe web site. In addition, the system used to generate the IMS List has been upgraded and now allows for real-time updating as information is made available to FDA/CFSAN. Therefore, the PDF file accessed by subscribers each quarter will be a snapshot of the data as it appears at the time of its creation.

Beginning with the January 2006 quarterly issue, the first week of each quarter FDA/CFSAN will notify all online subscribers via email that the latest IMS List is available and include the URL for the PDF file. FDA/CFSAN will continue to provide the IMS List on its website in dynamic (real time) format. When users no longer need the IMS List, they will have the capability to unsubscribe by accessing the same URL for subscribing to cancel receiving notification via email.

Questions or concerns related to the information contained in the IMS List should be directed to Charlotte Epps via telephone at 301-436-2154 or by email at . System problems encountered in subscribing or unsubscribing should be submitted to .