The Government of Javier Milei has moved forward with a new deregulation of the dairy chain by eliminating redundant procedures and updating technical standards to facilitate the marketing of Argentine products within Mercosur. The measures affect more than 460 companies and aim to reduce administrative costs, provide more predictable rules, and improve conditions for exporting.
One of the main changes was the definitive elimination of dairy operators from the Information System of Meat and Dairy Operators (SIOCAL), a registry that included plants, cooperatives, industries, warehouses, and marketers. At the time of its removal, there were 468 registered operators who had to allocate resources to comply with a useless administrative obligation as a control mechanism.
From the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, they described the procedure as an unproductive burden lacking utility for commercial oversight. The system accumulated information but did not have a specific sanctioning regime or sufficient legal tools to intervene in the event of possible irregularities.
The scheme was created in 2006 with the intention of incorporating the dairy sector into a supervision model similar to that existing in the meat and grain chains. However, for almost two decades its functions began to overlap with the tasks of ARCA, SENASA, provincial tax collection agencies, and various authorities responsible for food control.
