Recently, the plant-based food industry has been brought into a label war with the dairy industry. The Dairy Act, a bill which would limit certain labeling for the plant-based food industry, is being presented by 32 members of congress including support from heavy dairy-farmer states. The bill would prohibit non-cow's milk brands from labeling their products as milk. According to the dairy industry, milk labeling should only be allowed for products produced from one or more cows which would exclude the nut industry and milk produced by other mammals such as goats and llamas. Groups supporting the plant-based industry in this fight reiterate that, due to the dairy industries third decade decline in milk sales, they want to slow down sales for their only competition—plant-based alternative products.
Although the dairy industry claims that consumers are being mislead by alternative milks, cheese, and yogurts, The Dairy Pride Act will hurt more Americans than it will ever help. In a delusional world, consumers are accidentally buying products that state "dairy-free" and "nut-based" on the front of the packaging thinking it's milk. In reality, no one is accidentally buying almond milk. No one is buying "dairy-free" labeled cheese and thinking its aged cheddar from a cow. No one. Let's be honest, mistaking almond milk for real milk would be like mistaking spinach for candy. They are distinctly different in packaging and representation, and even people who don't drink either products know the difference.
With all of these differences between the two, removing milk labeling from alternatives is a pointless and petty fight posed by the dairy industry that wastes tax payer money and has provides no benefit to consumers. Additionally, removing milk labeling on alternatives and posting the possibility of moving milk alternatives to a separate section of the grocery store can be harmful to the overall health of the public. Granted, there is not any statistical information to prove this statement, but there is the notion of common sense and the science-proven risks of consuming milk.
In the last few decades, scientists have found that milk is not as healthy as the dairy industry let us all to believe. Sure, milk has a lot of calcium that can be great for your body, but dairy ice cream also has those calcium properties, and yet we do not eat ice cream in large quantities. Though dairy can provide great amounts of calcium that the human body needs to thrive, it may also be the reason people suffer from heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and other various diseases. Of course, milk has great properties that should not be overlooked, but the risk of disease and the ability to replace it with healthier options outweigh a human's need for cow's milk.
Milk, cheese, cream, yogurt, and any food product that has to do with a mammals milk is only slightly beneficial for the human diet, and it has only come to light in the recent decade that alternatives or "replacements" for these everyday items are possible because alternatives have been stocked and visible to the everyday consumer. Now that people are seeing there are healthier replacements, they are making the conscious decision to switch from cow's milk to plant-based milk, even if that means they might have to get the proper dose of calcium from other foods.
Think about the reason people drink coffee everyday—because they didn't get enough sleep to build energy, and they need to stay awake using a "processed" energy (caffeine.) It's unhealthy to solely survive on caffeine day in and day out. So, the right way to regain that energy is by simply getting the proper amount of sleep. The same concept goes for consuming dairy products. Because people aren't eating enough high-calcium vegetables, they rely on the least natural form of calcium—milk.
People who realize that consuming plant-based dairy products are a healthier replacement for cow's milk and up their intake of calcium heavy vegetables, have likely done the health research after they started seeing plant-based dairy everywhere in grocery stores. It's not that people who consume dairy actually like dairy or want to consume it, they simply believe that they have no choice because it's such a norm in our society and everyday food. Now that people are seeing there are other options, they are parting ways with mammal milk, and that obviously ruffles the feathers of an industry that has never before faced this level of competition.
