Farmers call for the term ‘milk’ to be only used on dairy products

Farmers are calling for the term milk to only be used for dairy products, arguing that calling plant products ‘milk’ is misleading.

A lobby group connected to farmers in NSW says plant based milks don’t fit the definition from Food Standards, which says milk is the mammary secretions of milking animals.

Graham Forbes, president of Dairy Connect, told 3AW Breakfast farmers just want clarification of what the product is.

‘People are just trying to make imitations of what we have, which is a very good natural product,’ he explained.

He said consumers could be misled by the milk label on products such as soy, almond and rice milks.

‘I think its just a consumer awareness thing that they need to be quite clear that natural milk is secreted from mammals, whether it be cows, camels, goats or sheep,’ Mr Forbes said.

The lobby believe alternative names such as water or juice could be replacement titles for the product. 

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