Out Of Bounds
FDA proposes allowing companies to use the term ‘milk’ on the labels of plant-based fake alternatives
FDA recently proposed to allow companies to use the term “milk” on the labels of plant-based fake alternatives. The opportunity to comment on the FDA’s Draft Guidance on Labeling of Plant-Based Milk Alternatives ends July 31.
The FDA Guidance document recommends milk imposters to “voluntarily” provide a nutrition statement on their product labels, explaining the differences between real milk and their phony alternatives.
“The voluntary statement is totally inadequate. The FDA Draft Guidance is business-as-usual for the companies making imposter products that have enjoyed two decades of non-enforcement and billions of dollars in annual profit at the expense of dairy farmers and consumers while the FDA has looked the other way, ignoring its own Standards of Identity for Milk,” says American Dairy Coalition CEO Laurie Fischer.
“FDA says these nutritional statements are a voluntary recommendation, but many in the dairy industry adamantly disagree with FDA’s position. Plant-based companies and trade associations, including the American Beverage Association, are supporting and congratulating FDA on its Draft Guidance, which could mean full speed ahead for fake alternatives to be labeled as ‘milk’ without containing any milk, and it is a total fabrication,” Fischer explains.
ADC urges national and state organizations and individual dairy farmers to comment—by July 31—asking FDA to enforce its current law called the “Standards of Identity on Milk” and to only allow real Milk products to be labeled as Milk, while the imposters that violate this are held accountable.
“It is wrong for consumers to be led down this path by the agency that is supposed to ensure their safety and guard against mislabeling,” says Fischer.
In the guidance document, FDA describes the proliferation of milk-imposters, noting that in 2010, one-fifth of U.S. households purchased or consumed plant-based alternatives. By 2016, this grew to one-third, totaling $1.5 billion in sales that year, and from 2017 to 2019, annual fake sales increased nearly 15% to $2 billion, with refrigerated products accounting for approximately 90% and shelf-stable accounting for around 10%. By 2020, retail sales grew to about $2.4%, according to the FDA document.
“That is profit at the expense of consumers,” Fischer points out. “Voluntary nutrition statements are not enough. The FDA’s own Guidance admits that in its focus groups, 25% of consumers either believed there was real Milk in these fake drinks, or they were unsure. That’s a lot of people! Even worse, FDA admits research showing many consumers ‘lack an accurate understanding about the specific nutrients in plant-based milk alternatives,’ and that ‘a majority of consumers who purchase plant-based ‘milk’ alternatives state they do so because they believe the products are healthier than milk.”
“This means there are consumers who believe almond beverages that are mislabeled as ‘milk’ could be real milk, with almond flavoring. This is unacceptable. It is long past time for the dairy industry to stand up and take action by providing FDA with your thoughts on the inadequacy of a voluntary nutrition statement on a completely fake mislabeled ‘milk’ imposter,” Fisher adds.
“We believe all consumers matter. We believe this is an issue of health equity as well. Global beverage companies have profited on this mislabeling long enough. The stakes for human health and nutrition are too high. FDA has a responsibility to prevent mislabeling so that all consumers are in an equitable position of understanding the choices they ultimately make,” she explains.
Decades of non-enforcement of FDA’s own Standards of Identity have already affected consumer choices and have harmed dairy farmers by shrinking markets for their products by allowing other drinks to falsely profit on milk’s good name and superior nutrition profile. Consumers who are confused may make different choices if they are not being misled.
“We are asking the FDA not to cave into the pressure of large global beverage makers. We ask that the FDA care about consumers who it admits are being misled. We ask that the FDA recognize its own role in the proliferation of billions of dollars in sales that are unfairly gained through the mislabeling of a rapidly growing assortment of fake drinks mislabeled as ‘milk.’ We are also calling on the FDA to stop the mislabeling of lab-created ‘fermentation-vat’ proteins that are being advertised to the food industry and to consumers as ‘dairy protein without the cow,’” Fischer asserts, noting these imposters are not complete dairy proteins and do not provide the complete nutritional package found in real dairy milk as a beverage or ingredient.
“It’s time to be straight with consumers and to restore the integrity of the beverage labels they rely on. Only real milk, is milk.”
To comment on the FDA Draft Guidance, the docket number is FDA-2023-D-0451-0002. Here is the direct link to submit a comment within the federal rulemaking portal at regulations.gov.
As reported in High Plains Journal
Suppes assumes role as Wheat Foods Council chairman
As reported in High Plains Journal, former U.S. Wheat Associates Chairman Ron Suppes was seated as chairman of the Wheat Foods Council during the organization’s recent summer board meeting in Denver. The Dighton, Kansas, producer has been a Kansas Wheat commissioner for two decades. He has also served as chairman of the Wheat Innovation Center Research Foundation.
Suppes, who was USW chairman in 2007-2008, has traveled to several foreign markets with USW. He’s helped promote U.S. wheat in more than 30 countries. Although his involvement with the WFC is focused on creating demand for wheat in the domestic market, Suppes recognizes the roles each play.
“For wheat farmers, the difference each of these groups make is dramatic,” Suppes said. “I’ve been involved with U.S. Wheat Associates for many years and have seen firsthand the value of the work it does in international markets. I have also experienced how the Wheat Foods Council works to promote the wheat we grow.”
Suppes will serve a one-year term as WFC chairman. As a wheat farmer, he brings an important perspective to the WFC leadership spot.
“Ron has already been an integral part of our work and he also provides some continuity to the chairman position,” said WFC President Tim O’Connor, “The Wheat Foods Council is a unique organization. Our membership includes the entire wheat value chain. We are made up of millers, bakers, ingredient suppliers and equipment companies. But grower organizations and growers like Ron are also important pieces of our membership. We are excited to have a wheat farmer like Ron help push us forward.”
Weeds latest challenge to growers in second half of 2023
What has become a familiar story in recent years is a tale of two growing seasons and ramifications that go with it.
Sarah Lancaster, assistant professor and weed science Extension specialist in the department of agronomy at Kansas State University, said this year has its own unique challenges with recent rains.
Year in and year out, the most troublesome weed in summer crops west of the Flint Hills is Palmer amaranth. In central and western Kansas, Palmer amaranth is closely followed by kochia for some farmers, she said. In eastern Kansas, waterhemp is the predominant weed for summer crops.
“Those are the worst weeds we’re seeing in wheat right now, as well. The dry fall and spring reduced emergence of many of the winter annual weeds we consider typical in wheat, but the thin canopy has let summer annual weeds emerge,” Lancaster said. Producers are going to need to evaluate their strategy. If a farmer finds himself in a position where residual herbicides are not effective or were not applied, the sooner he addresses the problem the better. Some producers like tillage, like sweep plows in central and western Kansas, she said. However, it will take longer for the ground to dry out enough for tillage compared to spraying. One of the most important practices for a herbicide program is to use multiple effective herbicide modes of action.
“The mode of action corresponds to the numbers that can be found on herbicide labels, so that part is pretty straight forward,” Lancaster said. “What becomes complicated is knowing what herbicides your weeds have developed resistance to and, as we move sort of ‘back to the future’ and consider using some of the older selective chemistries, knowing what weeds each herbicide will control.”
Another point to remember is to use full rates of products—even in tank mixes, and to make sure you are using the recommended adjuvants, Lancaster said. Spray volume and nozzles can also affect herbicide effectiveness, so checking those is important, too. Even if they do everything “by the book,” it’s likely that that a dense stand of large weeds will take more than one application. One way to reduce the number of applications is to include a residual herbicide in the tank mix.
Herbicide restrictions
Farmers are in a different era as some herbicides may not be as readily available because of regulatory actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency. Lancaster said sometimes the answer to the question is what a producer may have in his inventory.
When a herbicide is taken off the market it is legal to use product that is already on hand. However that is not always the case—for example, when chlorpyrifos was cancelled in 2022. Regardless of the language in the product cancellation, substitute products will be needed at some point, she said. Sometimes, that substitute might be a nonchemical option. There are many factors that influence which product will work best, Lancaster said.
Soybean producers also have to be concerned about herbicide drift.
For farmers concerned about causing off-target movement, their best course of action is to make sure they are following the herbicide label, she said. “For farmers concerned about being on the receiving end of drift, one approach—that needed to happen months ago—is to make sure the farmers in the neighborhood are on the same page. Once drift occurs, there’s not a lot a farmer can do.”
The best way to control weeds is to be proactive and that means not letting weeds produce seeds, she said.
For summer crops, farmers can prevent late-season emergence with an overlapping residual herbicide, Lancaster said. Some growers like spot-spraying or hand removal, depending on the number of weed scapes.
“For folks in summer fallow, being strategic with the use of residual herbicides and the timing of applications is important. As folks start to plant wheat, make sure the field is weed free. The weed management component that can be easily overlooked is scouting. Real scouting is not through the window of the pickup, If you can see the weeds from the road, you’re in a bad situation.”
