7 U.S.C. § 6401 — Findings and declaration of policy

fluid milk products are basic foods and are a primary source of required nutrients such as calcium, and otherwise are a valuable part of the human diet;

fluid milk products must be readily available and marketed efficiently to ensure that the people of the United States receive adequate nourishment;

the dairy industry plays a significant role in the economy of the United States, in that milk is produced by thousands of milk producers and dairy products (including fluid milk products) are consumed every day by millions of people in the United States;

the processing of milk into fluid milk products and the marketing of such products are important to the dairy industry because the fluid milk segment of the dairy market contributes substantially to ensuring that the prices paid to milk producers for raw milk are stable and adequate to maintain the overall strength of the dairy industry;

the maintenance and expansion of markets for fluid milk products are vital to the Nation’s fluid milk processors and milk producers, as well as to the general economy of the United States;

the congressional purpose underlying this chapter is to maintain and expand markets for fluid milk products, not to maintain or expand any processor’s share of those markets and that the chapter does not prohibit or restrict individual advertising^* or promotion of fluid milk products since the programs created and funded by this chapter are not extended to replace individual advertising and promotion efforts;

the cooperative development, financing, and implementation of a coordinated program of advertising and promotion of fluid milk products is necessary to maintain and expand markets for fluid milk products;

it is appropriate to finance the cooperative program described in paragraph (6) 1 with self-help assessments paid by the fluid milk processors; and

fluid milk products move in interstate and foreign commerce, and fluid milk products that do not move in such channels of commerce directly burden or affect interstate commerce in fluid milk products.