What’s next?— Banning the word “peanut butter”?
The definition of “Milk” from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
“A fluid secreted by the mammary glands of females for the nourishment of their young.”
“Milk from an animal and especially a cow used as food by people.”
“A food product produced from seeds or fruit that resembles and is used similarly to cow’s milk — coconut milk — soy milk”
The head of the FDA Scott Gottlieb has announced that he intends to outlaw the use of the word “milk” for beverages that don’t originate from the mammary glands of lactating animals, despite the fact that the word “milk” has been used to describe non-diary beverages for centuries.
While dairy milk sales have dropped 11% over the past year, milk alternatives such as almond milk and soy milk are becoming much more popular, with hemp milk also potentially becoming much more popular due to it being more economical to produce than almond milk.
Gottlieb’s agenda stems from a failed legislative initiative called “Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, Milk, and Cheese To Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act” (also called the Dairy Pride Act) that attempted to benefit the daily industry by imposing restrictions on non-dairy alternative products.
The Dairy Pride Act claims health benefits are associated with the consumption of dairy milk and it claims that consumers are being “misled” by plant based milks due to them potentially thinking that they are actually purchasing dairy milk, despite the fact that the packaging for non-dairy milks are clearly labeled as such.
Government and industry aligned nutritionists continue to tout health benefits of dairy, however many other nutritionists claim that plant-based diets are more beneficial.
Also see this Forbes article about the issue.