On August 2, l979, the Community Nutrition Institute (CNI) and four individual petitioners submitted a request to the Secretary of Agriculture asking him to amend federal milk marketing order provisions affecting reconstituted milk. Although CNI's proposal contains recommendations that are neither new nor unexpected, it has fostered much concern and discussion among dairy farmers. The purpose of this paper is to provide farmers and other interested parties with some background information, a description of the current situation and the issues involved, and a synthesis of various estimates of the possible consequences of the proposed changes.