Vermont’s sole congressman is taking a stand against what he is calling ‘fake milk,’ arguing that if it comes from soybeans, almond or rice, it should not be labeled as milk.
Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, Republican Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson and 23 other members of Congress representing major milk-producing states, have signed a letter asking the US Food and Drug Administration to investigate and take action against manufacturers of various non-dairy milk substitutes.
They want the federal agency to require plant-based products to adopt a more appropriate name, other than milk, which they say is misleading to consumers and damaging to dairy farmers.
‘You have these other products that are basically free-riding on the advertising about milk and its specific, positive qualities,’ Welch tells the Burlington Free Press.
The bipartisan letter points out that according to a recent Nielsen study, in the past five years, sales of almond milk grew 250 per cent to more than $894.6million, while sales of dairy-based milk fell 7 per cent in 2015.
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