As if dairy farmers do not have enough to contend with, such as drought, high water and feed costs, and processors shutting down. Now to have a range of products competing for the same market space calling itself milk while not actually being milk just adds to the burden they have to shoulder.
This past week has seen the industry move to reclaim the labelling of products to be what they are and not what they would like to be, to the advantage of the dairy industry. All things being equal, soy milk would be called what it is, soy emulsion.
The only relationship almond milk has to actual milk is that it is white and perhaps has some calcium. Besides almonds, its listed ingredients are spring water, calcium carbonate, tapioca starch, sea salt, stabiliser, carrageenan, emulsifier, sunflower, lecithin and natural flavouring.
The Australian Dairy Farmers are calling for change to food standards so that consumers trying to make a healthy choice have the benefit of transparent and accurate product labelling.
A ban on plant-based products using the ‘milk’ label would bring Australia into line with other countries after the European Court of Justice in 2017 mandated that dairy terms could not be used on plant based products, even with clarifying terms.
In that same year, a survey by Dairy Australia found that more than half of respondents bought plant based milk alternative because they perceived them to be healthier than dairy milk. Plant based ‘milk’ products have grown to be a $165 million per year industry.
