'A nut is not a mammal': Dairy farmers wage war over plant-based products using 'milk'
Dairy farmers have a beef with plant-based producers in a new war over milk, but this time it’s not about price - it’s about the use of the word.
Supermarket shelves are packed with vegan milks like soy, almond, rice, and coconut, but dairy farmers say these alternatives should be called ‘juice’.
At Country Valley, in NSW’s Macarthur Region, John Fairley is fed up with ‘milk’ being used to label plant-based alternatives.
He said consumers don’t fully understand the meaning of the word ‘milk’.
“Milk is a fluid that comes from a mammal. Now, a nut is not a mammal,” Mr Fairley told 7News.
“Don’t try and confuse the whole discussion by saying it’s milk. It’s not milk,” he added.
In April last year France passed an amendment to its Agriculture Bill which prohibits “misleading marketing” of vegetarian or vegan products in a way that reflects an animal product. This means it is against the law for plant-based alternatives to be labeled ‘soy cheese’, ‘almond milk’ or ‘veggie sausage’, for example.
Australian dairy farmers are pushing for national labelling laws to be changed in line with these international regulations.
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