The surprisingly heated fight over what makes 'milk' milk

In late February, the Food and Drug Administration issued long-awaited draft guidance on how to refer to plant-based milk alternatives like soy milk, oat milk, and almond milk. But not everyone was pleased with the nonbinding recommendations — among the document's critics were Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and James Risch (R-Idaho); the dairy industry; and even plant-based milk advocates Here's a look at the curiously contentious fight over the definition of milk:

What did the FDA advise?

Because plant-based milk alternatives are "non-standardized foods," they "may be labeled with the term 'beverage,' 'drink,' or 'milk,'" the FDA wrote. That said, consumers "feel familiar and comfortable with the term 'milk' when describing plant-based milk alternatives" and "preferred to use the term when given a choice of names for plant-based milk alternatives (e.g., 'milk,' 'beverage,' 'drink,' etc.)."

The FDA frowned on applying the term "imitation milk" to plant-based milk alternatives but said adding "non-dairy" or "dairy-free" to the label would be helpful. It also suggested that companies who make plant-based beverages add "an additional nutrient statement on the product label describing how it is nutritionally different" than dairy milk.

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So why is that controversial?

As bland as they may seem, the FDA's proposals actually caused quite a splash in the milk world.

While it's good the agency acknowledged that "nutritionally inconsistent concoctions of water, factory-processed powders, and other additives simply don't contain the same nutrition that milk provides," said National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) Jim Mulhern, federal law limits the usage of the term "milk" to the "lacteal secretions" of cows. "We reject the agency's circular logic that FDA's past labeling enforcement inaction now justifies labeling such beverages 'milk,'" he added.

Baldwin and Risch issued a joint statement slamming the FDA's "misguided rule," arguing it "will hurt America's dairy farmers and our rural communities" and sullies the "good name" of dairy milk. "Since the FDA is failing to enforce its own definitions for dairy terminology and stop imitation products from deceiving consumers, we will be reintroducing our DAIRY PRIDE Act to stand up for America's dairy farmers and the quality products they make." The Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, milk, and cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act (DAIRY PRIDE Act) — which is backed by the NMPF — "would require the FDA to issue guidance for nationwide enforcement of mislabeled plant-based products," ensure that the FDA enforces these rules, and "nullify any guidance that is not consistent with dairy standards of identity, including the one released today," Baldwin added.

On the other side of the debate, advocates of plant-based milk products said the FDA's suggestion to add nutrient statements to labels was unnecessary and would invite frivolous litigation. "Effectively, alt-milk producers are being asked to tacitly endorse a government (and dairy industry) message they object to — that bovine milk is some gold standard for human health, and any alternative that has less of a single nutrient is something to be concerned about," attorney Nigel Barrella told AgFunder News.

This isn't a new fight for the dairy industry, Paul Shapiro, CEO of The Better Meat Co., writes at The Hill. "As early as the 1860s, lawmakers protecting the dairy industry were crusading against margarine with taxes and even laws requiring alt-butter to be dyed pink." The European Union specifies that plant-based milk alternatives be called a "drink," not "milk."

The DAIRY PRIDE Act "is thankfully unlikely to become law any time soon," Shapiro said, but we also "don't need new federal laws restricting speech nor new agency rules forcing speech. Rather than crying over spilled milk — plant-based or not — consumers who are motivated by concerns about particular nutrients can just do what they always do: Read nutrition facts panels that are already sensibly printed right there on the carton."

Are people really upset about milk?

Well, there is a lot of money at stake. U.S. dairies notched $13.6 billion in retail sales of dairy milk last year, while plant-based milk alternatives rose to $2.6 billion in retail sales in 2021. Indeed, plant-based milks are on the rise, the FDA noted, with a third of U.S. households buying or consuming a milk alternative in 2016, up from 20 percent of households in 2010. The Plant Based Foods Association says 42 percent of U.S. households bought plant-based milk in 2021.

For most people, however, the milk debate appears to be a non-issue. "Consumers don't seem to have a difficult time understanding that peanut butter doesn't contain cow-derived butter, hamburgers don't contain pig-derived ham and hot dogs don't contain, well, you know," Shapiro writes at The Hill. "The same is so with oat milk."

"I know, Wisconsin politicians are gonna Wisconsin, but are we really pretending that consumers are misled by 'almond milk' and 'oat milk'?" journalist Michael Grunwald sighed. "Does Big Dairy want us to rename 'peanut butter' too? Is 'shaving cream' okay?"

In fact, focus groups commissioned and conducted by FDA "indicated that most participants were not confused about plant-based milk alternatives containing milk and referred to plant-based milk alternatives as 'milk,'" the FDA said. Further, other research indicates that "consumers understand that plant-based milk alternatives are distinct products and choose to purchase plant-based milk alternatives because they are not milk," often due to "allergies, intolerances to milk, or lifestyle choices."

So what is 'milk,' then?

The FDA, in its federal standards of identity of food for human consumption, describes "milk" as "the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows."​​

Plant-based milk brands, however, say these standards "were designed to address fraud and economic adulteration, not to prevent plant-based alternatives from referring to standardized terms (e.g., milk) in their marketing," Elaine Watson writes at AgFunder News. "Courts handling false advertising cases over plant milks have tended to agree."

But when making her case, Sen. Baldwin just turned right to the dictionary, tweeting a screenshot of two dairy-centric milk definitions and adding, "If you're wondering, the definition of milk hasn't changed."

The following two definitions she did not screenshot, however, define milk as "the white juice of certain plants: 'coconut milk,'" and "a creamy-textured liquid with a particular ingredient or use: 'cleansing milk.'"