FDA asked (again) to whey in on milk fight
Two decades later and a plant-advocacy group is still spoiling for a fight over milk.
The group, which represents makers of soy, almond and other plant-based milk beverages, petitioned the federal government on Monday for a ruling that would allow its members to continue to call their popular products milk.
The National Milk Producers Federation, which represents dairy producers, has been trying for 20 years to get the Food and Drug Administration to rule just the opposite. And with good cause. Sales of dairy milk decreased 7 percent in 2015, to $17.8 billion, and are projected to drop another 11 percent through 2020, according to the Mintel Group.
Meanwhile, sales of alternative milk products grew 9 percent in 2015, to $1.9 billion.
Faced with FDA intransigence, the dairy producers’ group recently pushed for and got bills introduced in both houses of Congress — the Dairy Pride Act — that would ban plant-based beverages from calling their products milk.
The dairy producers feel soy milk and its related products are “grossly mislabeled.”
The plant advocacy group, the Good Food Institute, faced with heat on the Hill, took the battle — again — to the FDA.
It is at least the fifth time in 20 years the FDA has been asked to settle this battle. In each instance, it has passed.
“The FDA is reviewing the issue and takes action in accordance with public health priorities and agency resources,” the agency said in a statement.
The dairy industry argues that the FDA is ignoring its own regulation, stating that milk is “the lacteal secretion ... of one or more healthy cows.”