Comments on: Debate in the Dairy Aisle: Are Plant-Based Drinks “Milk”?

By: Elizabeth Bell

Elizabeth Bell — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0000

I’m not confused.

I understand why the dairy industry wants to ‘ban’ the use of the milk label. But I only see it backfiring as people are now being more readily introduced to these dairy ‘alternatives’ they may not have been aware of before. I don’t think it will get people to start drinking more milk again.

Keep the milk label if you want. People are just trying to find dairy free alternatives for a number of reasons. The internet makes it easy.

By: Nancy P.

Nancy P. — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 17:06:00 +0000

Humans have no need for breast milk after infancy, so why are doctors who are also claiming to be nutrition experts supporting dairy consumption? If humans NEED breast milk, wouldn’t human breast milk be the most logical – and ethical – choice? We need to think more deeply and critically about what we are consuming, and the fact that our food choices are never just personal. Cows are turned into milk machines …. There is nothing in milk that cannot be obtained from plant sources, which is the healthiest way to obtain these nutrients.
“Dr. Walter Willet, the chair of Harvard’s nutrition department, is also the single-most-cited nutritionist in the world.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2013/07/27/what-eat-harvard-walter-willett-thinks-has-answers/5WL3MIVdzHCN2ypfpFB6WP/story.html
Dr. Willet is among a strong, growing cohort of physicians and health professionals promoting plant-sourced nutrition, including the elimination of dairy from our diet. In fact, the Department of Nutrition of Harvard University has replaced milk with water for their healthy eating recommendations: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/
Edited to comply with Best Food Facts policy.

By: maria monk

maria monk — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 13:51:00 +0000

In reply to expat. from a language perspective neither milk nor meat must refer to animal source

By: maria monk

maria monk — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 13:51:00 +0000

In reply to Kari Crawford. it is the milk of an almond so that's what it should be called

By: Christine Campbell

Christine Campbell — Wed, 17 May 2017 22:30:00 +0000

Dr. German has a very good point in that our vernacular matters. In that vein, though, I think we need to pull the matter back even further. “Milk” for human consumption should rightly be referring to human milk. When speaking of bovine milk, we should be accurately calling it “cow’s milk.” If the argument is that calling a product “almond milk” or “soy milk” is confusing to the consumer, then the standard should be upheld consistently. That said, colloquially, people understand that the almond did not lactate to make almond “milk.” We also should understand that cow’s milk is not perfectly blended for human consumption, either. It IS perfectly blended for calf consumption. Making the argument against calling alternatives “milk” a nutritional argument makes me think that we should be emphatic in our vernacular that COW’S milk is sold in supermarkets- they should not be allowed to label it simply “milk” because the nutritional balance and source mean that it is not truly “milk” in human terms. Additionally, if the public can’t be trusted to understand that almond or soy or hemp or rice milk is not mammalian in source, they certainly can’t be trusted to understand that a cow and a human female are not the same.

By: expat

expat — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 21:32:00 +0000

we wouldn’t be having this debate if it was not hurting someone pocketbook. Dairy farmers are up against a growing marketing push for alternative and more profitable products. And while I’m vegan for many years, the profitability of plant based ‘milk’ will determine who shouts loudest and who wins. From a science perspective, milk is from an animal source, period. Same with meat.

By: Ag-West Bio

Ag-West Bio — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 20:48:00 +0000

Like so much of what’s happening in the food industry, it’s all about marketing. Trying to get consumers to buy this product instead of that one. Funny though, we have called the fluid in a coconut ‘milk’ for ages, so I don’t know if it matters that much.

By: Kari Crawford

Kari Crawford — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 21:59:00 +0000

Well, I do believe that if almond milk was called nut juice, most would not be inclined to drink it, lol.