Congress finds that—

(1) dairy products are basic foods that are a valuable part of the human diet;

(2) the production of dairy products plays a significant role in the Nation’s economy, the milk from which dairy products are manufactured is produced by thousands of milk producers, and dairy products are consumed by millions of people throughout the United States;

(3) dairy products must be readily available and marketed efficiently to ensure that the people of the United States receive adequate nourishment;

(4) the maintenance and expansion of existing markets for dairy products are vital to the welfare of milk producers and those concerned with marketing, using, and producing dairy products, as well as to the general economy of the Nation; and

(5) dairy products move in interstate and foreign commerce, and dairy products that do not move in such channels of commerce directly burden or affect interstate commerce of dairy products.

It, therefore, is declared to be the policy of Congress that it is in the public interest to authorize the establishment, through the exercise of the powers provided herein, of an orderly procedure for financing (through assessments on all milk produced in the United States for commercial use and on imported dairy products) and carrying out a coordinated program of promotion designed to strengthen the dairy industry’s position in the marketplace and to maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets and uses for fluid milk and dairy products. Nothing in this subchapter may be construed to provide for the control of production or otherwise limit the right of individual milk producers to produce milk or the right of any person to import dairy products.

(Pub. L. 98–180, title I, § 110, Nov. 29, 1983, 97 Stat. 1136; Pub. L. 107–171, title I, § 1505(h)(1), May 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 210.)