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isconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Thursday slammed the Food and Drug Administration for its ruling in favor of plant-based milk substitutes, signaling conflict ahead between the agency and a lawmaker representing the state synonymous with dairy farming.
The FDA ruled this week that U.S. manufacturers will be able to continue calling certain liquids “milk” even though they come from plant-based sources such as almonds and soy.
The ruling came over the protests of dairy farmers who seek to reserve the designation “milk” for true milk. The FDA said in its draft guidance that the “milk” label is “strongly rooted in consumers’ vocabulary when describing and talking about plant-based milk alternatives.”
Baldwin slammed the ruling on Wednesday. “I took a stand for Wisconsin dairy farmers by calling out [the FDA’s] guidance allowing plant-based products to be labeled as ‘milk’,” she wrote on Twitter. “This misguided act hurts our farmers & we must protect the integrity of dairy products.”
Posting a dictionary definition of milk as “an opaque white fluid rich in fat and protein, secreted by female mammals for the nourishment of their young,” Baldwin wrote, “If you’re wondering, the definition of milk hasn’t changed.”
