Non-dairy milk alternatives have gotten pretty popular. Soy milk and rice milk have been around for a while, of course. Almond milk, too. But now you’ve got cashew milk and oat milk and coconut milk and others we’re probably forgetting.
It’s an embarrassment of riches, really. The lactose-intolerant and dairy-allergic and dairy-averse have plenty of choices when it comes to deciding how to bathe their cereal or what to dunk their cookies into.
But apparently they’re not actually fully equipped to make those choices, at least not according to the U.S. FDA. And so, action must be taken swiftly and decisively to ensure that consumers are as informed as possible about the fact that non-dairy milk alternatives are not, in fact, the same as dairy milk:
Laser-focused on the big issues: "The FDA May Nix the Word ‘Milk’ From Your Almond Milk Carton" https://t.co/vWDTXytCr3 pic.twitter.com/q9dyPFX210
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) June 5, 2022
The FDA’s just trying to avert disaster: if they don’t make it explicit that almond milk does not come from cows, we’re looking at a potential public health and nutrition crisis.
— Sirius Schwartz (@SiriusSchwartz) June 6, 2022
But will the expiration date still be there? I need to know when to throw stuff away.
— Jamie Lockett (@jlockett02) June 6, 2022
We can only hope so.
This may result in a false sense of security that the milk you are drinking is, in fact, milk
— Arpit Gupta (@arpitrage) June 5, 2022
How will I ever know what the truth really is.
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) June 5, 2022
Oh, the humanity.
Thank god, I wasn’t comfortable with the uncertainty over how they obtained the milk from the almonds.
— Bob Sampson (@bobsalpha1) June 5, 2022
Just call it Nut Juice…
— navybrat (@navybratdawn) June 5, 2022
— Ptseq1993 (@PtSeq1993) June 5, 2022
Pretty sad the FDA has been reduced to this pic.twitter.com/jlx5WahhHy
— Patrick Hedger (@PatHedger18) June 6, 2022
No, but seriously. That’s literally where the FDA is at right now. Taking a long, hard look at this because there’s apparently nothing more important for them to be doing.
So glad that FDA is focused on this critical public health issue – I guess this was higher on the priority list than infant formula?
— Barrett Tenbarge (@btenbarge) June 6, 2022
Evidently pretty much everything is higher on the priority list than infant formula (or, rather, higher on the priority list than making infant formula widely accessible).
No big deal. Just FDA's head honcho saying outright that he thinks Americans are too dumb to purchase milk without his help. 😐https://t.co/6w4jnParpu
— American Vapor Manufacturers (@VaporAmerican) June 6, 2022
No wonder they thought parents would be too confused by different approval dates for <5 vaccines, if we are not equipped to read the nutrition label on almond milk.
I’m amazed they leave any decisions up to little old us!
— Jeff Tucker (@SEAsheltie) June 6, 2022
Right?
Anyway, if it’s all right, little old us would like to make a humble request.
Dairy state Senators introduced a bill called, I kid you not, the DAIRY PRIDE Act. https://t.co/ooX3Jih0TV
— Pé🌻 (@4everNeverTrump) June 6, 2022
Oppose all forced acronym legislation. DAIRY PRIDE Act? How many tax dollars did we spend paying someone to come up with that title? https://t.co/0EURdaNrux
— Andrew H. Sowards (@AndrewHSowards) June 6, 2022
However many tax dollars it was, it was about ten times too many.
***
Related:
FDA expected — again — to announce a proposed rule banning menthol from cigarettes