First developed in 1984, the ISO 1211|IDF 1 standard provides a test for the fat content of milk and includes guidelines for reporting results. Its aim is to ensure that terms related to fat content like skimmed, semi-skimmed, and whole-fat all have a common meaning and that brands are all using equivalent measures.
Third edition
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Dairy Federation (IDF) have now published a third edition of the standard to bring it up to date and extend its scope to a wider variety of milks.
The key change from the second edition, which was published in 1999, is that the third is extended to cover sheep and goat’s milk. The methodology in the new edition can now be used for sheep and goat’s milk, whether full fat, reduced fat or skimmed, as well as chemically preserved and processed liquid milk.
ISO 1211|IDF 1 was prepared by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 34, Food products, subcommittee SC 5, Milk and milk products, in collaboration with the IDF.
The standard is available from ISO national member institutes and can also be obtained directly from the ISO Central Secretariat.
ISO standards are not mandatory but they inform national regulations and are widely adopted by companies looking to trade internationally.