During a recent hearing, a representative of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was asked about the labeling of imitation dairy products. Rusty Halvorson has more details.
During a recent Senate hearing on Capitol Hill, farm state lawmakers pressed officials from the Food and Drug Administration about the misuse of dairy terms in labeling imitation dairy products.
The FDA has only instituted voluntary labeling guidance when it comes to imitation products.
James Jones, Deputy Commissioner of Human Foods at the FDA, told lawmakers the agency is following the letter of the law.
“On the issue of using the term ‘milk’ you have to characterize what it is derived from. So, it has to say ‘soy milk’ or ‘oat milk. You can’t just say ‘milk’ on such a label.”
The FDA does ask manufacturers to label their products as “not nutritionally equivalent to dairy products” – but critics – like Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin – say it’s not enough.
“It’s hard to believe that plant-based alternatives would willingly highlight the nutritional disadvantages of their products compared to real milk.”
Jones acknowledged that the FDA has received a fair amount of comment that the current rules are not adequate.
“As you pointed out, we said we encourage manufacturers of these products to identify that they are not nutritionally equivalent to a dairy product. We have gotten a fair amount of comment that that is not adequate, and we are taking that comment under consideration. Ultimately, I can’t say where we will land that issue, but the nutritional equivalence issue is very much on our radar.”