Got Oat Milk? Welch And Vermont Dairy Farmers Push Back On FDA's Plant-Based Beverage Guidance

Mar 03, 2023

By Mary Williams Engisch

Milk doesn't have to come from a cow to be labeled as such in a grocery store.

That's according to recently released draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The agency says plant-based beverages like almond milk, or drinks made from oats or soy, can also be labeled as "milk."

The FDA says they found consumers "generally understand" that plant-based milk alternatives do not actually contain milk, and that terms like soy milk are well-established in common usage.

The news isn't being received well by Vermont dairy producers. And U.S. Senator Peter Welch thinks the FDA got it wrong.

Tuesday, as a response to the FDA draft guidance, Welch co-sponsored legislation that would prohibit companies from using dairy-related terms to describe plant-based products.

"The Food and Drug Administration is really in violation, I think, of their own regulations on definitions, and we want to stand up to protect that really important label of what milk is and our dairy farmers produce," Welch said.

The bill, which is led by lawmakers from other dairy-producing states, would define milk as the product "obtained by the complete milking of one or more hooved animals." Welch said the bill was drawn up to maintain the integrity of the dairy label.

"Consumers are entitled to it and our farmers are entitled to it," Welch said. "And the FDA should be providing an accurate definition of what dairy is. And other products have their own appeal, but they're not dairy."

milk

U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, center left, and Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts, center right, lead a toast to Vermont farmers during a roundtable discussion in St. Albans on Wednesday, Jan. 11.

Previous coverage from Vermont Public, 2021: Welch introduces bill that would restrict labeling of milk to dairy products

Vermont dairy farmers aren't pleased with FDA's draft recommendations.

"Milk is bovine milk. And advertising a product as milk is false advertising," said Ed Maltby, executive director of the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance.

Maltby said the new guidance doesn't represent the interest of the consumer, nor Vermont's dairy farmers.

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Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.