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“An Almond Doesn’t Lactate”: Feds Move To Block The Use Of “Milk” In Almond Milk

1280px-Scott_Gottlieb_official_portraitFDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb may have come up with the greatest tagline since “White Men Don’t Jump.”  Gottlieb has announced that the agency is considering blocking the use of the term “almond milk” because “an almond doesn’t lactate.”

Gottlieb explained to Politico that the use of the label violates the “standard of identity” policy that regulates how milk is defined and should be identified.  “If you look at our standard of identity—there is a reference somewhere in the standard of identity to a lactating animal. And, you know, an almond doesn’t lactate, I will confess.”

Of course neither does soy or rice,  However, the milk industry has moved aggressively to get the Trump Administration to crack down on its competition.  Their lobbyists appear to be succeeding.  Gottlieb admits that the agency has not been enforcing its policiers on product makers but has suddenly decided to do so.

Notably, in July 2015, a class action lawsuit was filed in New York against Blue Diamond Growers and White Wave Foods for false advertising not because of the use of the term milk but the almond part. The challengers alleged that only two percent of the products are from almonds.  A judge however tossed the challenge.

The shift to “Strained Almond Pulp beverage” or some other market name does not seem appealing.

Few people confuse almond milk with cow milk. It has the consistency and appearance of milk.

It is time to call in vegan lawyers.  The Oxford dictionary defines the verb lactate as “of a woman or female mammal to produce milk.”

Does this mean if the almond milk producers use female employees they would meet the definition?

More importantly, Oxford defines milk as including such products as coconut milk.

Here is the definition from Merriam-Webster:

a : a fluid secreted by the mammary glands of females for the nourishment of their young
b (1) : milk from an animal and especially a cow used as food by people 

(2) : a food product produced from seeds or fruit that resembles and is used similarly to cow’s milk 

  • coconut milk
  • soy milk
2: a liquid resembling milk in appearance: such as
a : the latex of a plant
b : the contents of an unripe kernel of grain

But, he admitted, curtailing the wording of non-moo juice labeling isn’t an easy task because it means that the agency has to change its “regulatory posture.”

So common parlance and forma dictionaries recognize non-lactated milk but the FDA will adopt this narrow definition? It speaks more of the power and manna of lobbyists in Washington than logic or the law.

What do you think?

67 thoughts on ““An Almond Doesn’t Lactate”: Feds Move To Block The Use Of “Milk” In Almond Milk”

  1. Plant milk
    In the U.S., plant-based milk is 9.3% of the total milk market.[2] In Europe soy and oat milk are popular. There is also hemp milk, cashew milk, hazelnut milk, and milk from peas and lupin.
    Common plant milks are almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk and rice milk. Hemp milk, peanut milk, pea milk and oat milk are also available. It can also be made from:

    Grains: barley, oat, spelt
    Legumes: lupin, pea, peanut
    Nuts: cashew, hazelnut, pistachio, walnut
    Seeds: chia seed, flaxseed, pumpkin seed, quinoa, sesame seed, sunflower seed, hemp seed

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_milk

  2. It’s cheap semantics. If you mix chocolate with milk it is chocolate milk. Vanila, Horchata, Almond all the same. The most they could do is demand the label read Almond flavored milk. Same with almond flavored water or whatever else.

    What you are reading about is the over reaching of government running amok to no purpose. They couldn’t bother to fix the water at Flint Michigan but they spend their time on this?

    That’s one part of the bureaucracy that is ripe for pink colored layoff slips. Let them follow the path of the tea sipper board.

    1. Michael Aarethun – commercial chocolate milk is made to cover the blood from milking the teats of the cows. It is all pasteurized, so it is all good. However, it allows them to sell milk they would normally have to destroy.

      1. Strange… I don’t remember ever bloodying the milk when I did it by hand.nor when using milking machines. Someone turning up the vacuum pressure a bit high?

        1. Michael Aarethun – you run as many cows as they do here at a time and somebody/something is going to slip up. 🙂

    2. you might say brandy and cognac are the same too, but they aren’t.
      there are good reasons to regulate the words used to describe food products in labelling

      1. “you might say brandy and cognac are the same too, but they aren’t.
        there are good reasons to regulate the words used to describe food products in labelling”

        Using your brandy and cognac example, tell us why? Do you wish to protect French producers of cognac which is a brandy?

        1. cognac is specific kind of brandy. it’s not protection it’s truth in labeling.

          roquefort does not come from wisconsin. a similar blue cheese can be made in wisconsin that is just as good or better; but it is not roquefort unless it is from a specific place in france

          truth, not protection.

          almond milk, that’s a reasonable subject for debate and perhaps legislation. i am not the authority but words have meaning.

          1. I might be wrong, but Cognac denotes a city that with increasing sales expanded to cities outside of Cognac. It became a region so everything produced outside of the area of the original production is merely an economic convenience.

            I really don’t care one way or the other but if identical means of producing the same brandy were used I don’t see why it can’t be called cognac. Check the label for the place of origin. Brand names in my mind are a different story.

  7. What would Harvey Milk say?

    What would the 2% say?

    If we can’t say “almond milk” can we still say “cow pies?”

  10. Tony Podesta has preposterously been given a pardon by King Mueller and Professor Turley is going to do almond milk?
    _______________________________________________________________________________________________

    “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

    – Edmund Burke

      1. K Street – The K stands for Korruption
        _____

        WSJ –

        How Tony Podesta, a Washington Power Broker, Lost It All

        “The Democratic lobbyist had money, connections and a rarefied art collection. Then came a divorce, Paul Manafort and Donald Trump, and his world came crashing down

        Tony Podesta was in line to be king of K Street.

        His lobbying firm ended 2015 as the third largest in Washington, D.C., with nearly $30 million in revenue from more than 100 clients, spanning Alphabet Inc.’s Google to Wells Fargo & Co. With his longtime friend Hillary Clinton expected to win the White House, 2016 promised to be even better.”
        _____

        Reuters –

        “The indictment against Manafort and Gates listed two unnamed firms as “Company A” and “Company B” that lobbied several lawmakers on behalf of Ukraine at Manafort’s request.

        The indictment did not name Podesta Group.

        A spokesperson for the Podesta Group said after Podesta stepped down on Monday that it had been in contact with investigators on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team and was fully cooperating with the probe.

        The spokesperson also said the Podesta Group fully complied with the law in disclosing its lobbying on behalf of the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, a group linked to Manafort and named in the indictment.”

    2. George, that seems correct, Prof Turley seems to be in hiding with AG Sessions under their mothers skirt waiting to see which way the wind is blowing & who’ll likely win.

      Hiding in the middle of the rode on some of the most important issues in decades will win them no friends from any side in the end.

      1. he can write what he likes on his blog, it’s not his day job ya know. geez cut him some slack

    3. Many of the”unusual” features of 2016 campaign, and the questionable conduct those involved in it, are not being investigated, or of interest to the Special Counsel team.
      This goes back to Rosenstein’s directive to Mueller; i.e., “you investigate one campaign, the people associated with that one campaign, and ONLY possible violations and the people associated with that one campaign.

      1. So true. They should also investigate that sortie of black helicopters seen hovering over your “bug out” bunker.

        this is to “what have the feds ever done for me, besides that Constitution thingy” tommie

        1. Which came first? The Feds or the Constitution. hmmmmmmm short for Confederation? Different from Federation? Ahh 2% federated ringers lactate?

        2. I know that Markypoo is not capable of/ interested in staying on topic.
          Suggesting that the ENTIRE 2016 campaign should be investigated really does not have anything to do with “black helicopters”, or that “constitution thingy”.
          Staying on topic is not the strong point of low-life trolls…..but being ooh so clever, ooh so bitchy is probably both an innate and honed “talent”, and one that should be recognized.
          I am willing, every now and then, to give the anonymous troll trash that stink up this site, like Markum, the recognition that he deserves.

        3. mock the survivalists all you want but when you leftists get your civil war, we all know they won’t be on your side of it.

  11. Common term in chemistry. Milk of Magnesia ring a bell? Needed by bartenders to mix up a Phillips Screwdriver

    Horchata – Wikipedia
    Mexican milk like plant horchata from en.wikipedia.org
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horchata

    Here, drinks called agua de horchata or simply horchata came to be made with white rice and cinnamon or Canella instead of tiger nuts. Sometimes these drinks had vanilla added, or were served adorned with fruit.

    What is the chemical formula for milk of magnesia?
    Question:

    What is the chemical formula for milk of magnesia?

    Milk of Magnesia

    Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia was first made by Charles Henry Phillips in 1872, who used it as medicine for patients. Today, milk of magnesia is still used for its properties.

    Answer and Explanation:

    The chemical formula for milk of magnesia is Mg(OH)2. The chemical formula shows that milk of magnesia is made of one magnesium atom, two oxygen atoms, and two hydrogen atoms. Although this compound is called milk of magnesia, the exact chemical name for milk of magnesia is magnesium hydroxide.

    Milk of magnesia is often used for constipation, heartburn, and upset stomach. Its properties help neutralize acids that may be upsetting your stomach. Also, milk of magnesia can be used for beauty, such as deodorant and acne treatment.

    Lactation is the process used by certain animals to produce various milks There is no reason it cannot be synthesized.

    1. Lactated Ringer’s is composed of sodium chloride 6 g/L, sodium lactate 3.1 g/L, potassium chloride 0.3 g/L, and calcium chloride 0.2 g/L. Lactated Ringer’s contains ions of sodium 130 mEq/L, potassium 4 mEq/L, calcium 2.7 mEq/L, chloride 109 mEq/L, and lactate 28 mEq/L.

      Used in place of saline solution as a blood expander from heavy bleeding,

      Main ingredient sodium lactate?

      So…. Sodium lactate is….

      Compound Sodium Lactate – Medsafe
      http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/Datasheet/c/compoundsodiumlactateinf.pdf

      Sterile solution intended for intravenous use containing Sodium Lactate (3.17 g/L), Sodium Chloride (6.0 g/L), Potassium Chloride (400 mg/L) and Calcium.

      FINALLY

      Feedback
      Sodium lactate – Wikipedia
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_lactate

      Sodium lactate is the sodium salt of lactic acid, and has a mild saline taste. It is produced by fermentation of a sugar source, such as corn or beets, and then, …
      Solubility in water‎: ‎> 1.5 g/mL
      Density‎: ‎1.33 g/mL, 1.31 g/ml (60 % syrup)
      Chemical formula‎: ‎C3H5NaO3
      Molar mass‎: ‎112.06 g/mol

      Almonds are a sugar source?
      How much sugar is in raw almonds?
      One ounce of raw almonds, or approximately 23 whole almonds, provides 163 calories, just over 6 grams of protein, 14 grams of mostly monounsaturated fat and about 6 grams of carbohydrates, of which 3.5 grams are mostly insoluble fiber and nearly 5.6 grams are naturally occurring sugars, according to U.S. Department

      and finally

      Almonds: A Diabetes-Friendly Nut – Healthline
      healthline.com/health/diabetes/almonds

      Nov 29, 2017 – In fact, “almonds are actually one of the highest protein sources … shown that almonds may reduce the rise in glucose (blood sugar) and insulin

      Which means almonds can lactate ergo sum their theory is rejected.

      No biggie I was waiting for another project to reach fruition.

    2. i prefer the European system of truth in labeling for foods which is more precise. The critics call it protectionism but I call it accuracy

  13. Is it now so PC that there is no longer any humor permitted?

    Producers should just publicly ask if the FDA instead allow them to call it Fag Milk of Almonds For Queers.

    I’ll bet the folks at the FDA will run away at a high rate of speed like the cockroaches would when I’d open the door & turn on the lights to paint Sec. * apartments when I was younger. LOL;)

  14. The new Dairy Farmers of America campaign slogan:
    “Got lactation?”

    1. Cindy Bragg – LOL – I can just see that ad with a little milk mustache.

    2. And Almond Growers as my research shows.

      Remember when you run in a race and their is a build up of something in the muscles? That’s lactic acid.

      So as a reducer of too much lactic acid would an almond be beneficial to competition runners or banned as a drug?

      Someone else can follow that trail

  15. What a waste of tax payer dollars. I want my money back. Don’t these people have more important things to do? Our Gov. “the people’s Gov” has lost it!

        1. What do you call a cow standing in tall grass?

          Udderly tickled.

  20. This FDA you speak of, by what Constitutional Authority do they operate under.

    I must have missed it & that of the IRS, etc…

    1. The authority is derived from the section of the Communist Manifesto that mandates “control of the means of production.” Of course, this aspect of communism, as are all others, is irrefutably unconstitutional as Americans enjoy the right to private property.

      To wit,

      James Madison defined “private property” as:

      “That dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual.”

      Whatever will Americans do when they realize that their rights and freedoms have been fraudulently and unconstitutionally “buried” by communists?
      _____

      “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

      – Isoroku Yamamoto

    2. IRS under the governments taxing authority. The other is under the catch all phrase “General Welfare.”

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