The Louisiana Senate Agriculture Committee is considering legislation today aimed at strictly defining what can and cannot be labeled as “milk”. This comes in response to the rising popularity of products like almond, coconut, and soy “milk”.
Ag Commissioner Mike Strain says the definition would be strict.
“The lacteal secretions that comes from the complete milking of one or more healthy cows or other hooved animals, meaning goats, sheep, camels, etc.,” Strain says.
If approved the Department of Health would be tasked with enforcement.
Despite its creamy white liquid appearance, Strain says milk substitutes do not include many of the vital health benefits that come from the real deal.
“It is not milk, it does not have the same nutritional quality,” according to Strain, “it doesn’t have the same amount of calcium or vitamins, or minerals and proteins.”
If the bill passes retailers would be given a grace period in which to change the labeling on their non-animal based “milk” products.
Strain says along with a ten percent drop in consumption nationwide of animal milk products, there’s a growing number of children who being robbed of the nutritional benefits of real milk.
He claims, “We’re beginning to see cases of malnutrition in children under two years of age, and they should be fed milk.”
A spokesman for the company that owns Silk, a soy based milk substitute, says the legislation is unnecessary because people know the difference between plant and animal milk.