Manufacturers of soymilk may need to find another description

NEW YORK (AP) – Soybean and almond beverages that come in as "milk" may need to consider another language after a higher regulator has suggested that it should not be used. agency could start cracking down on the use of the term. The administration has announced its intention to begin implementing a federal standard that defines "milk" as derived from "milking one or more healthy cows". It would be a change for the agency, which did not attack the proliferation of herbal drinks labeled as "milk".

Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner, spoke about plans this week, noting that there are hundreds of federal "standards of identity" stating how foods with different names must be made [19659002]have we enforced our own standard of identity, "Gottlieb said about" milk "at the Politico event on Tuesday." The answer is probably not. "

The standards of Identity were the sources of the fledgling industry that American diets have evolved, including fights over what may be called mayonnaise and yogurt. More recently, there are disagreements over what is called cultured meat by cell culture, a science that is still emerging.

The FDA can not change the way it applies a standard without warning, said Gottlieb. To take a different approach to law enforcement, he ad clared that the FDA will d & # 39; first develop guidelines informing businesses of the change and ask for public comment. According to Gottlieb, the agency expects to be continued, since dictionary definitions are broader and say that milk comes from a lactating animal or from a walnut.

The National Milk Producers Federation said it was pleased that Gottlieb acknowledged that the labeling practices of many "imitators of herbal dairy products" violate federal standards. The industry group had recently renewed its pressure for the FDA to attack non-dairy beverages that called "milk."

The Good Food Institute, which advocates plant alternatives, says the term "milk" should be allowed with modifiers. "For the same reason that you can have gluten-free bread and rice noodles, almond milk and soy milk are the clearest and most appropriate terms to describe these products," said Bruce. Friedrich, co-producer of the group. founder

The FDA declined to comment on whether the agency would enforce other standards, such as for yogurt.

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