On December 16th, 32 members of congress, led by Rep Peter Welch (D-VT), petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to "investigate and take appropriate action against manufactures of" plant-based milk products.
Congress members, acting on behalf of the suffering dairy industry, are trying to use the FDA to bully new plant-based milk manufactures in an attempt to turn the tide on their steadily declining profits. They state that it is "misleading" to label plant-based milk as "milk", however, it is commonly understood that "almond milk" comes from almonds, and "soymilk" comes from soy beans, etc. In fact, most dictionaries provide two definitions for milk; one relating to mammal milk, and a second definition relating to plant milk.
You can read the petition from congress members here.
As American consumers become more educated on the health dangers of consuming animal products, the demand for plant-based alternatives will only continue to rise, as dairy and other animal product sales will continue to fall. Rather than using the FDA to punish these new companies, congress, working with Americas farmers, should be coming up with innovative ways to help dairy farmers transition to farming other plant foods that will only continue to increase in demand in the years to come.
Please sign this petition to tell the FDA to decline to take punitive action against plant-based milk manufactures for properly labelling their products.
