There is an abundance of new products on our grocery shelf's these days that are claiming they are milk, are they?

Dairy farmers are claiming that soy, almond, coconut, rice and now oat and pea drinks are calling themselves milk when they really are not milk, at least as defined by our government which is:

the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows.

That being said then how can companies define their plant based products as milk?

The Star Tribune, in Minneapolis Minnesota is reporting about the dairy farmers concerns.

As one dairy farmer in Minnesota stated:

I’ve heard it called that…They can call it juice or beverage, or whatever they wish, but we just don’t want them to call it milk.

The executive director of Plant Based Food Association, Michele Simon responded when she stated:

This entire exercise is a solution in search of a problem…At a time when resources are scarce, our federal government should not be concerned with how ‘almond milk’ is labeled. Aren’t there higher priorities, such as the safety of our food supply, for FDA to worry about?

The executive director of Minnesota Milk, Lucas Sjostrom, believes that the federal regulations should be enforced.  Mr. Sjostom said the industry is ok with lacteal secretions from other types of animals being labeled as milk. He was quoted in the article stating:

We have no problem with goats

What is our government doing about this to address the concerns of all, The Food and Drug Administration is contemplating whether to update its rules for how to label plant-based foods.

Are plant based products really milk, you decide.

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