Millennia. Milk of the poppy for example. Milking snakes is also a thing people do, and let me tell ya, it ain't cow's milk they're pulling from there. It's not a benign or even a fruitless...
Millennia. Milk of the poppy for example.
Milking snakes is also a thing people do, and let me tell ya, it ain't cow's milk they're pulling from there.
It's not a benign or even a fruitless effort. While at this point plant based milk isn't going anywhere, we're seeing the same thing with products marketing themselves as "palm oil free".
So far, palm oil industries have successfully stifled marketing and you can't easily find something free of palm oil.
These types of efforts are happening constantly in any harmful industry and they should absolutely be taken for the danger they are.
Slightly off topic I know, but I'd like to take this opportunity to plug the PalmOil Scan app by Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Scan a barcode and it presents information on whether or not the item uses...
So far, palm oil industries have successfully stifled marketing and you can't easily find something free of palm oil.
Slightly off topic I know, but I'd like to take this opportunity to plug the PalmOil Scan app by Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Scan a barcode and it presents information on whether or not the item uses sustainable harvesting practices. A small drop in the bucket, but it helps my own mental health knowing that not every dime I spend goes to the destruction of wildlife habitats. I was personally pleased that my new favorite brand of cookie received an "Excellent" rating when I scanned the barcode (big ups to Famous Amos for changing their recipe and being cool dudes).
Living in the EU this is already a reality for me and has been for years. It really doesn't make much of a difference since plant-based milks were always sold in a different section than dairy...
Living in the EU this is already a reality for me and has been for years. It really doesn't make much of a difference since plant-based milks were always sold in a different section than dairy milk so it's not like they were trying to deceive people, and people who buy plant-based milks are usually doing it consciously, not based on the name. Wow they're now called "soy drink" "almond drink" etc., big deal.
Funnily enough, at least where I live, we still colloquially call them milks, it's only the labels that can't say that, so it's even less impactful than it seems.
In Germany it is really funny because Scheuermilch still exist and that is a cleaning item. So nothing you shoud drink, and I never heard anyone mistaking it for milk. Plus Coconut milk still exist.
In Germany it is really funny because Scheuermilch still exist and that is a cleaning item. So nothing you shoud drink, and I never heard anyone mistaking it for milk.
Plus Coconut milk still exist.
The main reason people consume milk alternatives is that they aren't milk. For many reasons, from lactose intolerance to animal cruelty to environmental consciousness. We can look at Israel for an...
The main reason people consume milk alternatives is that they aren't milk. For many reasons, from lactose intolerance to animal cruelty to environmental consciousness.
We can look at Israel for an example, in Israel alternative "milk" already has to be labeled as "plant based drink" or "alternative drink" and they can't including the word milk in the name of the product.
But still these milk alternatives are very popular, making 12% of all milk consumption, and growing by 12.5% from 2021 to 2022 source
So to summorise, I doubt changing the name is really going to have a real effect on the growth of this industry.
Yeah just fixed it Also, I could only find sources in Hebrew, so sorry if you're not a speaker, but Google translate can do a pretty good job of translation
Yeah just fixed it
Also, I could only find sources in Hebrew, so sorry if you're not a speaker, but Google translate can do a pretty good job of translation
There's one at the grocery store I work at that's called Malk. It'll be just like the "be'f" that Gardein sells. I can't be the only person that doesn't care what they call it, I'll still be...
There's one at the grocery store I work at that's called Malk. It'll be just like the "be'f" that Gardein sells.
I can't be the only person that doesn't care what they call it, I'll still be getting oatmilk and the oat based coffee creamer. I'm actually surprised that the dairy industry hasn't gone after non dairy creamers in the past (or present), as well.
This is such an interesting fight. As someone who lives in a dairy-heavy state and works in the dairy industry, I'm quite familiar with the situation. The long story and basis for both sides of...
This is such an interesting fight. As someone who lives in a dairy-heavy state and works in the dairy industry, I'm quite familiar with the situation. The long story and basis for both sides of the argument is one of tradition and business savvy.
If you want to go way back, there is a precedent for the point they are making. The milk alternatives really aren't milk, just like there are cheeses that aren't really cheese. Why do you think Velveeta can sit in a box, out of the refrigerator? Because it's actually labeled "cheese product". In the industry, it's known as processed cheese and is made of some cheese flavors and oils/emulsifiers (interestingly very similar to plant-based cheese). So, there is a legal, and enforced standard for cheese, thereby forcing Velveeta to be labeled "cheese product".
Now, if this were the only thing going on, one could argue that the precedent is there and has been upheld for decades, so clearly you have dairy, and "dairy product" classifications and everyone moves on with their lives. But the dairy industry is also making another push regarding the classification of milk via UF, or Ultra Filtered milk. UF milk is run through a filtration process where a portion of water is removed, thereby making it more concentrated. The dairy industry is pushing to include UF milk on a label as just "milk", after all, nothing is added, and only water is removed, so it's still just milk, right?
That's where I think the crux in this lies. How can they be sticklers for "cheese product" and milk alternatives, simply because those aren't really milk/cheese, and yet, UF milk, ultimately, isn't truly milk either. They're playing both sides of the argument, and it feels a little disingenuous. And this same fight is being fought against plant-based cheeses as well, claiming those aren't cheeses!, all the while, spinning up production on plant-based cheeses themselves to get in on the trend.
I understand the need to protect their brands, but I would think they should either maintain the purity standard and just accept labelling UF milk, or leave milk alternatives alone.
This comparison doesn't really work for the plant milk debate imo as so-called "cheese products" are very different from (and afaik much cheaper than) dairy cheese, and it would be misleading to...
If you want to go way back, there is a precedent for the point they are making. The milk alternatives really aren't milk, just like there are cheeses that aren't really cheese.
This comparison doesn't really work for the plant milk debate imo as so-called "cheese products" are very different from (and afaik much cheaper than) dairy cheese, and it would be misleading to consumers to allow companies to label them as "cheese" when they're a different product. There is no such confusion with plant milks -- no one is being misled or even confused by phrases like "almond milk" or "soy milk", and because they include the name of the relevant plant they're still being labelled in a way that clearly differentiates them from dairy milk. Regulations like this are supposed to exist to avoid confusing or misleading the consumer, not to maintain some sort of objective categorization on principle.
I don't disagree with you. I think the problem is that if you get to the heart of it, the bulk of the dairy industry is a bunch of traditionalists who dislike change. This trend shows an impact to...
I don't disagree with you. I think the problem is that if you get to the heart of it, the bulk of the dairy industry is a bunch of traditionalists who dislike change. This trend shows an impact to their bottom line and is radically different to their world views, so they're going to fight it tooth and nail.
I don't think any reasonable person is going to be confused about the fact that oat milk is not technically milk, but unfortunately with food production, there has to be a set of very specific standards in place, so this is going to go on until someone decides the legal jargon required to define what is milk and what isn't.
I honestly have begun to think that food manufacturers need to start disclosing the methods of processing they put in their foods, and your UF milk example is the perfect illustration. The...
I honestly have begun to think that food manufacturers need to start disclosing the methods of processing they put in their foods, and your UF milk example is the perfect illustration. The ingredients label tends to be a bit too vague. One of the things I've always been bothered by is wheat flour, for instance. That isn't just a wheat plant that has been ground into flour; it's been dried, thrashed, and hulled before being milled. Yet for some reason it's only wheat that hasn't been hulled that requires the extra modifier "whole" in the name.
I understand that listing the processing steps would probably lead to companies losing their trade secrets. But seriously: fuck them. I should not be putting secrets in my body. I should not have to accept "trust me" as a reason why the food won't damage my health. There should not be one single step in the food production pipeline that is not entirely 100% transparent.
That is… obviously not true though? Why would anyone say that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrafiltered_milk
The dairy industry is pushing to include UF milk on a label as just "milk", after all, nothing is added, and only water is removed, so it's still just milk, right?
That is… obviously not true though? Why would anyone say that?
Specifically, ultrafiltration allows the smaller lactose, water, mineral, and vitamin molecules to pass through the membrane, while the larger protein and fat molecules (key components for making cheese) are retained and concentrated.
This is the most recent ruling Essentially, it's not the standard, but they're choosing when and where to enforce it. This is what makes standards of identity a problem.
FDA believes that food standards should provide for flexibility in manufacturing procedures and ingredients, provided that the basic nature and essential characteristics of the food are preserved. Given the oversupply of UF milk and the pending rulemaking, through this guidance, we are announcing our intent to exercise enforcement discretion regarding the use of fluid UF milk and fluid UF nonfat milk in the production of standardized cheeses and related cheese products under 21 CFR part 133, in addition to the other required dairy ingredients, provided that the physical, chemical, and organoleptic properties of the cheese or cheese product are not affected.
Essentially, it's not the standard, but they're choosing when and where to enforce it. This is what makes standards of identity a problem.
In an utterly firm effort to undercut plant-based rivals, big players in the dairy industry are again putting the squeeze on lawmakers to outlaw the use of the term "milk" for non-dairy beverages—or, in Food and Drug Administration lingo, beverages that are not the "lacteal secretion of cows."
Know more...
The FDA did humbly admit that almonds and other sources of plant-based milk don't, in fact, lactate; therefore, they don't meet the agency's own "standard of identity" for products labeled milk. Still, the FDA made a legal argument for keeping the names. It determined that "non-standardized" foods, such as plant-based milks, can legally be marketed with names that are "established common usage," such as "soy milk" and "almond milk."
Most importantly, the FDA held focus groups that confirmed that Americans do not generally confuse plant-based milk alternatives with cow's milk. In fact, many people buy them "because they are not milk." The FDA did note, however, that consumers are not good at comparing the nutritional contents of milk alternatives with actual milk.
Dairy industry groups got members of the House and Senate to push a bill called the DAIRY PRIDE Act. If signed into law, it would force the FDA to nullify its draft guidance and issue new milk-labeling guidance that would essentially ban any non-dairy beverage from being labeled milk.
This legislative effort isn't exactly fresh, though. Dairy-state lawmakers have pushed similar bills since 2017 with no success, Stat notes. And even if it manages to pass, it would likely meet damning legal challenges.
Further spoiling the legislative efforts is that the dairy industry isn't homogenized in its support for the bill. For instance, Stat notes that the International Dairy Foods Association is not lobbying on the bill.
This is the funniest quote from the article. Indeed. People don't buy "rice milk" because they think it's like chocolate milk, but rice-flavored. Who wants rice-flavored milk? They buy it because...
In fact, many people buy them "because they are not milk."
This is the funniest quote from the article. Indeed. People don't buy "rice milk" because they think it's like chocolate milk, but rice-flavored. Who wants rice-flavored milk? They buy it because they want something that isn't dairy.
The soaring popularity of plant-based milk alternatives is not due to people becoming increasingly confused by what milk is. It's due to increases in vegetarianism/veganism and due to increases in immigration from lactose-intolerant regions (i.e., most regions in the world).
If they succeed in passing this law, it isn't going to help dairy farmers. Consumers aren't going to suddenly start buying dairy because "oat milk" is now "non-dairy oat beverage". They will just adapt to the new product naming and carry on as before.
Pretending that they can do anything to reverse this trend is just copium. They should really stop wasting their resources trying to fight this losing battle and instead put it toward helping dairy farmers diversify their income streams.
...wait, are they seriously considering defining milk as ONLY from cows? I know milk from other animals is rare and hard to find in the US, especially when compared to plant milks, but based on...
outlaw the use of the term "milk" for non-dairy beverages—or, in Food and Drug Administration lingo, beverages that are not the "lacteal secretion of cows."
...wait, are they seriously considering defining milk as ONLY from cows? I know milk from other animals is rare and hard to find in the US, especially when compared to plant milks, but based on this wording it seems like they want to also outlaw labeling something as "goat milk". God knows what they'll find to substitute that one.
If we are opting for accuracy and lack of confusion, maybe dairy based drink should just be called 'lacteal secretions". Milk has had a wide and varied use throughout history as others have...
If we are opting for accuracy and lack of confusion, maybe dairy based drink should just be called 'lacteal secretions". Milk has had a wide and varied use throughout history as others have pointed out.
I live in Wisconsin and frankly I'm tired of the dairy industry; the desperate marketing and the whining that they are losing market share. It's already a heavily subsidized industry. This is a reaction to a paradigm shift. And to be honest, no one needs the pollution, the damage to the climate, or the misinformation the industry serves up with their cruel products.
Cows Milk, soy milk and coconut milk(latter two been around for a longtime...right?),anything else labelled as a milk doesnt really sound quite right. When we were kids "milk" was pretty much from...
Cows Milk, soy milk and coconut milk(latter two been around for a longtime...right?),anything else labelled as a milk doesnt really sound quite right. When we were kids "milk" was pretty much from a cow, and growing up (well for me), soy and coconut milk seem to be things we just got used to . Anything else like those "nut" milks (yes i like the oat milk in my coffee) doesnt sound quite right?. When people refer to milk in a conversation, dont most usually assume its to do with cows milk?
There are recipes that are quite old for almond milk. Most conversations I'd agree that "milk" is referring to cows milk. But it could refer to a number of non-cow animal milks too. If it was...
There are recipes that are quite old for almond milk.
Most conversations I'd agree that "milk" is referring to cows milk. But it could refer to a number of non-cow animal milks too. If it was being asked in reference to my coffee it usually is a question prompting my response from a wide range of "milks" some dairy, some not.
Would love to see how the market share would change if cow's milk alternatives couldn't call themselves "milk," but dairy lost all its subsidies. Do I get the half gallon of almond based milk...
Would love to see how the market share would change if cow's milk alternatives couldn't call themselves "milk," but dairy lost all its subsidies. Do I get the half gallon of almond based milk alternative for $3, or the gallon of Genuine Cow's Milk for $10?
Is milk of magnesia from cows, dairy industry? Because if not, we've got at least a hundred years of evidence that we can call other stuff milk.
Millennia. Milk of the poppy for example.
Milking snakes is also a thing people do, and let me tell ya, it ain't cow's milk they're pulling from there.
It's not a benign or even a fruitless effort. While at this point plant based milk isn't going anywhere, we're seeing the same thing with products marketing themselves as "palm oil free".
So far, palm oil industries have successfully stifled marketing and you can't easily find something free of palm oil.
These types of efforts are happening constantly in any harmful industry and they should absolutely be taken for the danger they are.
Slightly off topic I know, but I'd like to take this opportunity to plug the PalmOil Scan app by Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Scan a barcode and it presents information on whether or not the item uses sustainable harvesting practices. A small drop in the bucket, but it helps my own mental health knowing that not every dime I spend goes to the destruction of wildlife habitats. I was personally pleased that my new favorite brand of cookie received an "Excellent" rating when I scanned the barcode (big ups to Famous Amos for changing their recipe and being cool dudes).
Also coconut milk.
the term "almond milk" itself dates back to the 16th century
Living in the EU this is already a reality for me and has been for years. It really doesn't make much of a difference since plant-based milks were always sold in a different section than dairy milk so it's not like they were trying to deceive people, and people who buy plant-based milks are usually doing it consciously, not based on the name. Wow they're now called "soy drink" "almond drink" etc., big deal.
Funnily enough, at least where I live, we still colloquially call them milks, it's only the labels that can't say that, so it's even less impactful than it seems.
In Germany it is really funny because Scheuermilch still exist and that is a cleaning item. So nothing you shoud drink, and I never heard anyone mistaking it for milk.
Plus Coconut milk still exist.
The main reason people consume milk alternatives is that they aren't milk. For many reasons, from lactose intolerance to animal cruelty to environmental consciousness.
We can look at Israel for an example, in Israel alternative "milk" already has to be labeled as "plant based drink" or "alternative drink" and they can't including the word milk in the name of the product.
But still these milk alternatives are very popular, making 12% of all milk consumption, and growing by 12.5% from 2021 to 2022 source
So to summorise, I doubt changing the name is really going to have a real effect on the growth of this industry.
You seem to have got your brackets and parentheses mixed up.
Also your link is in Hebrew.... Not sure if you meant to paste that link.
Yeah just fixed it
Also, I could only find sources in Hebrew, so sorry if you're not a speaker, but Google translate can do a pretty good job of translation
So this law passes, and they just start labelling everything "Oat Milc" or "Rice Milq."
Easy!
I don't remember which brand, but there's already one in the UK that is labelled 'm*lk'
There's one at the grocery store I work at that's called Malk. It'll be just like the "be'f" that Gardein sells.
I can't be the only person that doesn't care what they call it, I'll still be getting oatmilk and the oat based coffee creamer. I'm actually surprised that the dairy industry hasn't gone after non dairy creamers in the past (or present), as well.
This is such an interesting fight. As someone who lives in a dairy-heavy state and works in the dairy industry, I'm quite familiar with the situation. The long story and basis for both sides of the argument is one of tradition and business savvy.
If you want to go way back, there is a precedent for the point they are making. The milk alternatives really aren't milk, just like there are cheeses that aren't really cheese. Why do you think Velveeta can sit in a box, out of the refrigerator? Because it's actually labeled "cheese product". In the industry, it's known as processed cheese and is made of some cheese flavors and oils/emulsifiers (interestingly very similar to plant-based cheese). So, there is a legal, and enforced standard for cheese, thereby forcing Velveeta to be labeled "cheese product".
Now, if this were the only thing going on, one could argue that the precedent is there and has been upheld for decades, so clearly you have dairy, and "dairy product" classifications and everyone moves on with their lives. But the dairy industry is also making another push regarding the classification of milk via UF, or Ultra Filtered milk. UF milk is run through a filtration process where a portion of water is removed, thereby making it more concentrated. The dairy industry is pushing to include UF milk on a label as just "milk", after all, nothing is added, and only water is removed, so it's still just milk, right?
That's where I think the crux in this lies. How can they be sticklers for "cheese product" and milk alternatives, simply because those aren't really milk/cheese, and yet, UF milk, ultimately, isn't truly milk either. They're playing both sides of the argument, and it feels a little disingenuous. And this same fight is being fought against plant-based cheeses as well, claiming those aren't cheeses!, all the while, spinning up production on plant-based cheeses themselves to get in on the trend.
I understand the need to protect their brands, but I would think they should either maintain the purity standard and just accept labelling UF milk, or leave milk alternatives alone.
This comparison doesn't really work for the plant milk debate imo as so-called "cheese products" are very different from (and afaik much cheaper than) dairy cheese, and it would be misleading to consumers to allow companies to label them as "cheese" when they're a different product. There is no such confusion with plant milks -- no one is being misled or even confused by phrases like "almond milk" or "soy milk", and because they include the name of the relevant plant they're still being labelled in a way that clearly differentiates them from dairy milk. Regulations like this are supposed to exist to avoid confusing or misleading the consumer, not to maintain some sort of objective categorization on principle.
I don't disagree with you. I think the problem is that if you get to the heart of it, the bulk of the dairy industry is a bunch of traditionalists who dislike change. This trend shows an impact to their bottom line and is radically different to their world views, so they're going to fight it tooth and nail.
I don't think any reasonable person is going to be confused about the fact that oat milk is not technically milk, but unfortunately with food production, there has to be a set of very specific standards in place, so this is going to go on until someone decides the legal jargon required to define what is milk and what isn't.
I honestly have begun to think that food manufacturers need to start disclosing the methods of processing they put in their foods, and your UF milk example is the perfect illustration. The ingredients label tends to be a bit too vague. One of the things I've always been bothered by is wheat flour, for instance. That isn't just a wheat plant that has been ground into flour; it's been dried, thrashed, and hulled before being milled. Yet for some reason it's only wheat that hasn't been hulled that requires the extra modifier "whole" in the name.
I understand that listing the processing steps would probably lead to companies losing their trade secrets. But seriously: fuck them. I should not be putting secrets in my body. I should not have to accept "trust me" as a reason why the food won't damage my health. There should not be one single step in the food production pipeline that is not entirely 100% transparent.
That is… obviously not true though? Why would anyone say that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrafiltered_milk
This is the most recent ruling
Essentially, it's not the standard, but they're choosing when and where to enforce it. This is what makes standards of identity a problem.
Beth Mole
Know more...
This is the funniest quote from the article. Indeed. People don't buy "rice milk" because they think it's like chocolate milk, but rice-flavored. Who wants rice-flavored milk? They buy it because they want something that isn't dairy.
The soaring popularity of plant-based milk alternatives is not due to people becoming increasingly confused by what milk is. It's due to increases in vegetarianism/veganism and due to increases in immigration from lactose-intolerant regions (i.e., most regions in the world).
If they succeed in passing this law, it isn't going to help dairy farmers. Consumers aren't going to suddenly start buying dairy because "oat milk" is now "non-dairy oat beverage". They will just adapt to the new product naming and carry on as before.
Pretending that they can do anything to reverse this trend is just copium. They should really stop wasting their resources trying to fight this losing battle and instead put it toward helping dairy farmers diversify their income streams.
...wait, are they seriously considering defining milk as ONLY from cows? I know milk from other animals is rare and hard to find in the US, especially when compared to plant milks, but based on this wording it seems like they want to also outlaw labeling something as "goat milk". God knows what they'll find to substitute that one.
If we are opting for accuracy and lack of confusion, maybe dairy based drink should just be called 'lacteal secretions". Milk has had a wide and varied use throughout history as others have pointed out.
I live in Wisconsin and frankly I'm tired of the dairy industry; the desperate marketing and the whining that they are losing market share. It's already a heavily subsidized industry. This is a reaction to a paradigm shift. And to be honest, no one needs the pollution, the damage to the climate, or the misinformation the industry serves up with their cruel products.
Cows Milk, soy milk and coconut milk(latter two been around for a longtime...right?),anything else labelled as a milk doesnt really sound quite right. When we were kids "milk" was pretty much from a cow, and growing up (well for me), soy and coconut milk seem to be things we just got used to . Anything else like those "nut" milks (yes i like the oat milk in my coffee) doesnt sound quite right?. When people refer to milk in a conversation, dont most usually assume its to do with cows milk?
There are recipes that are quite old for almond milk.
Most conversations I'd agree that "milk" is referring to cows milk. But it could refer to a number of non-cow animal milks too. If it was being asked in reference to my coffee it usually is a question prompting my response from a wide range of "milks" some dairy, some not.
Here’s my offer to the dairy industry: we’ll call it “poop” and you give up all your subsidies. Then free market can decide!
Would love to see how the market share would change if cow's milk alternatives couldn't call themselves "milk," but dairy lost all its subsidies. Do I get the half gallon of almond based milk alternative for $3, or the gallon of Genuine Cow's Milk for $10?