WASHINGTON — For dairy farmer Lucas Sjostrom, allowing beverages made out of soy, almonds, oats, rice or other plant based products to be called “milk” is more than an encroachment on his market, it’s a personal insult.
“Dairy farmers are offended that someone would try to steal their whole livelihood,” said Sjostrom, the executive director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association. “We feel that it’s a total theft of our way of life.”
The nation’s dairy farmers insist that plant-based products now labeled as milk be called juices or beverages – or anything but milk.
Yet the Food and Drug Administration recently issued a proposed rule that would allow the makers of beverages made from soybeans, almonds, oats and other plants to continue to label their products milk, as long as the non-dairy products employ qualifiers such as soy milk, and almond milk.
The FDA’s proposed rule, whose final form could be influenced by public comments, would also recommended – but not mandate – that packaging for plant-based drinks make clear the key nutritional differences between their products and cow’s milk.
For instance, if a carton of oat milk contains less vitamin D or calcium than dairy milk does, the label should provide that information to consumers, the FDA said. But adding the nutritional comparison to the carton would be voluntary.
[image_caption]Lucas Sjostrom[/image_caption]
Now Sjostrom and the nation’s dairy farmers say they must look to Congress for relief. And senators representing the nation’s top dairy states, including Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, are willing to comply.
Smith is a co-sponsor of the Dairy Pride Act, legislation introduced last week by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, that would bar the makers of plant-based beverages from labeling their products milk.
“We should be making sure plant-based imitation products are not misleading consumers and putting hardworking dairy farmers at a competitive disadvantage,” Smith said. “This legislation will ensure plant-based alternatives are properly labeled while protecting and supporting Minnesota’s dairy producers.”
The Dairy Pride Act, however, has failed to pass in previous Congresses, and the odds of it succeeding in this Congress are long.
Dairy milk consumption is declining
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Minnesota ranked seventh among the states in milk production in 2021, with California and Wisconsin snaring first and second place.
The USDA has also determined that U.S. milk consumption has dropped steadily over the past few decades, a trend that seems determined to continue. According to the USDA, Americans in 2019 drank nearly half as much milk as they drank in 1970. But increased consumption of other dairy products, especially cheese and yogurt, are making up for much of the decline in milk consumption.
Still, growing awareness of a condition called lactose intolerance that makes it difficult for some people to digest milk has boosted consumption of plant-based beverages.
But the USDA has determined that cow’s milk remains a staple food item and the decrease in milk consumption is more likely due to changes in American dietary habits.
“At some time during 2017, for example, 92% of American households bought cow’s milk,” a USDA Economic Research Survey study said. “Even among those who bought plant-based alternatives, 90 percent still bought cow’s milk. However, the researchers also found that sales of cow’s milk fell over time, while sales of plant-based options rose.”
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But the study determined the increase in the purchase of plant-based options was only one-fifth of the size of the decrease in Americans’ purchases of cow’s milk.
“Therefore, sales of plant-based milk alternatives are contributing to – but not a primary driver of – declining sales of cow’s milk,” the study concluded.
Still, Sjostrom said he’s concerned that promotion of plant-based beverages as milk will confuse consumers, many of whom will not be aware that most plant-based beverages won’t contain the nutrients that are present in dairy milk, including proteins and necessary fats.
He cites milk’s reputation as a healthy beverage, reinforced by marketing campaigns with slogans like “Milk: It does a body good.”
“If we don’t continue to save our brand, that hurts us all,” Sjostrom said of both the consumers and producers of milk.
Ariel Wiegard, director of government affairs at the American Soybean Association, has a different take on the issue.
Even though most soybeans grown in Minnesota and the rest of the nation end up as feed for livestock, including dairy cows, Wiegard said soybean farmers are proud to produce soy milk because the sale of the product creates relationship between them and consumers.
“It’s how most consumers are exposed to what our farmers grow,” she said
Wiegard also said she believes consumers will never confuse soy milk with cow’s milk, and soy milk is a product that's been around for many years. She said that fortified soy milk has as many nutrients as cow’s milk, although other plant-based beverages may not.
“We do feel pretty positive about the new FDA guidelines,” Wiegard said.
Those who have submitted public comments to the FDA about its proposed new rule are divided on what should be labeled “milk.”
“I would encourage you to change your stance on the fake labeling of nut and other fake milks,” one commenter wrote. “It is not a hard or difficult choice to stop misleading consumers.”
But another told the FDA: “Nobody is confusing plant-based milks with cow's milk … It is important that plant-based milks be labeled as milk so that those who use these products instead of cow's milk can feel included.”
The FDA will accept public comments on the proposed rule through April 24.
Living the 1886 Oleomargarine Act days again.
“Trump-era FDA director Scott Gottlieb said “almonds do not lactate” and indicated there would be shift towards more stringent labeling requirements for plant-based milks.”
This might be the first time I agree with the Trump administration.
I think the market takes care of it just fine. If you’re buying almond or soy or oat milk, you want something made from that product, so you are looking for the label. Producers realize this, and make a point of putting clear labels on the product so it’s not confused with milk from cows (or goats, or platypuses).
Read the label…..Funny…. I would suggest pictures on the label. Words like soy, oat, and almond might be out of the vocabulary range of many. Then there is the whole goat-oat confusion potential.
“… so that those who use these products instead of cow’s milk can feel included.” Really? Included in what? Seems to me this notion carries inclusionism way beyond reason. And “Nobody is confusing plant-based milks with cow’s milk .” You think not? Bet you wouldn’t have to look too far.
What about female breast milk? Should that be labeled as well as not dairy milk? I think most folks are smart enough to figure this out.
Here’s what the dictionary says:
DEFINITION FOR MILK
noun
an opaque white or bluish-white liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals, serving for the nourishment of their young.
this liquid as secreted by cows, goats, or certain other animals and used by humans for food or as a source of butter, cheeses, yogurt, etc.
a glass, carton, etc., of cow’s milk:
We ordered two milks for the children.
Others:
any liquid resembling the milk of animals, as the liquid within a coconut, the juice or sap of certain plants, or various pharmaceutical or cosmetic preparations:
the milk of the rubber tree;
a gentle cleansing milk for your skin.
a whitish, potable liquid made of ground nuts, legumes, seeds, or grain blended with water and often a sweetener, used especially as a substitute for dairy milk, its main ingredient as specified:
nut milks;
almond milk; oat milk; rice milk.
ORIGIN OF MILK
Old English milc; compare Old Saxon miluk, Old High German miluh, Old Norse mjolk
I am old enough to remember my grandfather and uncles dairy farms. The cows grazed outdoors all day (weather permitting) and were milked in the morning and in the evening. When a farmer was unable to milk his cows neighbor farmers helped out. That was the era of small individual owned farms. We now live with industrialized farming. Cows are milked 24 hours seven days a week. A cow can only provide milk at this level if they are pregnant. They are artificially impregnated and their calf is taken from them almost immediately so the milk can go to human consumption. The reason I drink plant based milk is because of the inhumane treatment of the cows. I do wish the media would address these facts as well.
Much of your post is nonsense.
Calves have been raised separately from.cows for decades.
Your grandfather milked his cows 7 days a week, twice a day every day.
While a modern dairy operates 20 hours a day, the cow is milked only times a day.
Your grandfather’s cows grazed maybe 6 months a year while the rest of the time they spent tied up in a stall.
A modern dairy the cows are free to move about and lay in a soft sand free stall.
Cows today, just like in the past need to get pregnant every year to continue milking.
They only difference with AI superior genetics is available to all farmers without the risk of a large Cranky bull injuring both people and cows
It all comes down to the source of information. You make it sound like cows have a cush life. They do not.
Most factory-farmed cows never get to step foot outside during their production years, confined instead to indoor sheds that are often filthy and crowded. They’re denied the ability to graze, lie comfortably, nurse their young, or live in socially complex herds with their offspring.Feb 23, 2021
Factory-Farmed Cows: What Happens to Cattle on Factory …
The Humane League
https://thehumaneleague.org › article › factory-farmed.
Hi Donna, I too had to comment on your response. I am a product of a Minnesota family farm and wanted to clear the air on a few of your comments…
1. I have first-hand experience on living on a farm and caring for the livestock we raised. Just because you’ve seen ppl abuse farm animals, don’t assume that is how all farms operate. It’s more the outlier than the norm.
2. The milking schedule has not changed from your memory of grandpas and uncles dairy. Cows are not milked 24-hours a day. And yes, just like a human, they lactate after they give birth. Cows are generally still milked twice per day, 7 days a week. Most cows and cattle do spend time outdoors.
3. You are correct, calves are taken from their mothers for a variety of reasons – safety of the animals, health of the calves, etc.
4. And as mentioned by the other reader, dairy farmers has been using AI (artificial insemination) for decades. Again, safety of the animals and families who live on the farm. This also gives farmers the opportunity to select the best genetics for their herd.
If you’d like a tour of a working, modern dairy in Minnesota, I’d bet we’d find several farmers to showcase their farms. You too could see how so many farmers love and take care of their animals.
The first recorded use of “almond milk” in English literature that we know of is in the cookbook “Forme of Cury” – dated 1390. Plant milks are not a new phenomenon. And that is to say nothing of cultures that have used coconut milk traditionally for far longer.
I have a lot of sympathy for dairy farmers, but I believe they are barking up the wrong tree on this one.
The Got Milk advertising campaign is a well-known example of a checkoff program, part of a long-standing government campaign to encourage consumers to disproportionately purchase animal products. The way checkoff programs work is pretty simple; Congress levies a small fee on certain agricultural products, and the collected funds are used to pay national marketing organizations to promote these products.
The US Department of Agriculture contributes more than $500 million annually toward meat and dairy checkoff programs that heavily market animal products.
While their are plenty of deceptive uses in labeling, the use of the word milk is not one of them. People understand how Soy Milk is different from Cow Milk. If the dairy industry feels there is too much confusion with the word, perhaps it should abandon the word ‘milk’ and brand their product as ‘cow juice’ instead.
What will we do with milkweed? “Non-dairy liquid weed”? “plantmilkweed”? “I can’t believe it’s not milk–weed”?
This whole topic is beyond stupid.
Back in my day, dairy farmers complained about kids drinking soda instead of cow milk. Now those darn millennials are drinking soy/almond/oat milk instead of cow milk. What’s next, water??
Sorry to say, dairy farmers, but this milk has been spilt and you might want to stop crying about it. “Almonds don’t lactate”? Gimme a break!
Even if you force relabeling of the product, we’re all going to keep calling it almond milk or soy milk or oat milk, just as we continue to call Puffs and other facial tissues “kleenex” with a small “k” even as we pull a box of Puffs off the shelf.
No mother is going to ask her child, “Would you like almond beverage or soy beverage on your cereal this morning, dear?” And when shoppers make out their grocery lists, they are going to scribble “milk” if they mean cow’s milk, “goat milk” if they mean goat’s milk or “soy milk” if they mean the whitish liquid made from soy. You cannot control this. The cow has left the barn.
American dietary habits are indeed changing, and increasingly that means our milk will be coming from plants now. You cannot brand an entire category of food, and milk was never a brand in the first place. Milk has a dictionary definition that says it comes from animals, but eventually that definition will change to catch up with the lexicon in common usage.
We refer to milk by its function now—as a beverage, as an ingredient in smoothies, and as a partner to cereal—not by its dictionary definition. Our minds have expanded along with the category.
Here’s my suggestion, farmers: Instead of spending your energies and lobbying dollars on a brand-grab for which you are too late, why not start labeling your products Dairy Milk (adding, for marketing purposes, descriptors such as Real, Original, Certified, etc.) to distinguish them from plant milks? Why not focus on the tastes and textures that can be achieved only with dairy milk and boost your market share that way?
Maybe even stay away from using all those pictures of cows that only remind health-conscious consumers of the fact that “dairy” means animal farms. Or take a lesson from the Chick-Fil-A billboards featuring cattle with signs that say “Eat Mor Chikin,” causing people to question their desire to slaughter such intelligent animals when we can eat crumb-pecking birds instead. Find a way to show cows chewing almonds and spitting them out in disgust. That stuff works.
Trying to put the spilt milk back into the bottle won’t work at all.
I can’t say this is the biggest issue on my radar but I’m with the farmers on this one. Decades and millions (if not billions) of dollars have been spent building the dairy “brand” and creating an image and identity for milk. I can understand why dairy farmers object to others appropriating the term at this point.
Drink or don’t drink milk if you want but don’t tell us the term is irrelevant because you wouldn’t be using it in the first place if it had no commercial or marketing value for your product. And no, it’s not up to dairy farmers who produce actual milk to find a new way to describe their product while you cash in on their product brand.
As for inclusivity, you don’t get to brag about the moral, environmental, or medical, superiority of opting out of dairy culture and then whine about feeling excluded from the dairy culture. You don’t get to call it “milk” simply because you want “feel” like you’re drinking milk when choosing not to.
While separate to the underlying question of whether other products can be called milk, it’s certainly a change to see dairy farmers supporting government regulations. No doubt it will extend to other issues as well.
Sarcasm aside, no one will confuse soy milk with dairy milk when they get to the checkout line.
Product confusion isn’t the issue. Juice producers aren’t trying to dupe their customers into buying their product as if it’s a dairy product, and there’s no reason to assume that people won’t know what they’re buying. The issue is the appropriation of a product category and brand that someone else has spent decades building. Basically they’re selling milk substitutes, but calling it milk. If it’s not milk, and everyone knows it’s not milk… why do you want to call it milk? Obviously “milk” has valuable attributes that juice producers want to associate with THIER product, but who did the work and spent decades developing and promoting those attributes? I think dairy farmers are just saying juice producers have their own product, the can do their own work developing and marketing their product rather than piggy backing on someone else’s marketing.
My career in market research revealed many situations where there was a better name waiting to be identified. Milk is a product from a mammal. Plant based products are not, unless they are a mix of animal and plant products. Using eggs as an reference point, there are whole eggs, egg yolks and egg whites. In their uncooked form, egg whites are not white. They become whites after cooking. The name of the color is used – and is very clear.
Apply to this to non dairy products – “oat white,” “almond white” or “soy white.” Doesn’t that describe them well, as a new food class? They are a white beverage that can be used instead of milk for a perceived health or moral benefits. You create a clear-cut alternative which can be marketed together by all the product producers, giving them more collective marketing clout. Don’t like this – then suggest a better idea!
These are also scientists trying to bio-engineer a dairy alternative that doesn’t not involve cows or other mammals. That idea is also begging for a name. It may be a greater danger to the dairy industry. At this point, I would call it BEM (bio-engineered milk) as a place holder.