Cow’s milk found in Almond Breeze
In the decadeslong war over milk — with purveyors of cow juice on one side and the people who make an increasing array of ecru-colored plant- and nut-based drinks on the other — this is as close to consorting with the enemy as it gets.
The manufacturer of a popular brand of almond milk has announced a recall for what some would call a sacrilegious act: Somehow, cow’s milk got into the almond milk.
The recall affects nearly 150,000 half-gallon cartons of Almond Breeze almond milk shipped to wholesalers in 28 states, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
That is less than 1 percent of all the refrigerated almond milk shipped by HP Hood LLC in the past month.
HP Hood is a national dairy company based in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Among its brands is Kemps and Crowley. But the company also handles the production of Almond Breeze, the brand of Blue Diamond Growers, a California almond cooperative.
This revelation could be more than enough to sour fans’ perception of the Almond Breeze brand, whose carton features almonds plopping into a sea of pure white liquid.
It was a perception carefully cultivated by Blue Diamond Growers, whose website has a photo of a singular, perfect almond sitting upright on a wooden table and a picture of a farmer meticulously inspecting a blossoming almond tree. If the photos weren’t enough, the text near the top of the page proudly proclaims: “Almonds are all we do.”
But a statement from Hood about the mix-up conjures a different image. The almond milk was produced in a factory — one that, almond drinkers now know, was essentially playing both sides in the milk wars.
One person with a lactose allergy was sickened by the almond milk, but Hood said the product is completely safe to drink for anyone without that allergy.
For many, it was another salvo in the greater debate over what is and isn’t “milk,” with billions in revenue at stake.
Victoria tweeted, “Is the dairy industry trying to get back at us by poisoning our almond milk with dairy???”