Argentina – ANMAT updates the identity and quality requirements for UHT milk, approved thru GMC Resolution No 13/23

Thru Joint Resolution 7/2026, the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries and the National Administration of Medicines, Food, and Medical Technology (Anmat) modify the Food Code to incorporate a new technical regulation for long-life milk (UAT or UHT) of the Common Market Group of Mercosur. In this way, regulations in effect since the mid-1990s are being replaced, and the legislation is being adapted to the technical advances recorded in the dairy industry.

The resolution does not change the way consumers use or buy long-life milk, but it updates the rules that manufacturers must follow to produce and market it. The main modifications:

  • The new Mercosur technical regulation for UHT milk is adopted.
  • The definitions and categories of milk (whole, semi-skimmed, and skimmed) are updated.
  • More modern criteria are established regarding composition, quality, hygiene, and labeling.
  • The methods of analysis and control that laboratories must use are unified.
  • Standards that had been in effect since the 1990s are being replaced by a single, updated regulation.

Brazil: Public Consultation – Proposal for a Mercosur Technical Regulation on Identity and Quality of UHT Milk

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture issued Regulation No. 576, proposing to establish characteristics and quality standards for UHT (Ultra-high Temperature) sterilized milk. The feedback period is 60 days. The main contents are as follows:

(1) Determined the characteristics and minimum quality characteristics that UHT sterilized milk must conform to;

(2) UHT sterilized milk means milk homogenized and packaged under aseptic conditions after heat treatment at 135℃ for 10 seconds, or up to 150℃ for 2 seconds, or equivalent combination of temperature and time.