Plant-based milk products could face name change

Alternative milk products could be re-named if dairy farmers are able secure truthful labelling

THAT'S NUTS: Almond milk is set to be the non-dairy beverage of choice. Picture: Contibuted

ALTERNATE milk products could be re-named if dairy farmers are able secure truthful labelling.

ADF gained crucial political support to reclaim the word "milk” with the nationals voting to push for a ban on alternative and plant-based producing using the world.

Peak dairy farmer group Australian Dairy Farmers praised the move as a vote of confidence in the industry's efforts to ensure honest product labelling.

"We are pleased to see that the Nationals are on our side in wanting to ensure more transparency in food labelling,” ADF President Terry Richardson said.

"The dairy industry has long been fighting against the dishonest labelling and marketing of plant-based alternatives that are co-opting the look and feel of dairy and giving the misleading impression that these products are nutritionally equal to dairy.”

Clarendon dairyfarmer Errol Gerber was in support of the move, saying it was about telling the truth in labelling.

"Nut milk is not milk,” he said.

"They're trying to make it something that its not.”

Mr Gerber said "milk is milk” and the likes of almond milk, and coconut milk were not.

"I think its just truth in labelling,” he said.

According to a survey by Dairy Australia in 2017, 54 per cent of respondents bought plant-based milk alternatives because they deemed them to be healthier than dairy.

But market research firm IBISWorld estimates Australia's plant-based "milk” product industry has grown at an annualised rate of 4.1 per cent over the five years to 2018-19, to $165.8 million today.

ADF previously wrote to Nationals deputy leader and federal agriculture minister Bridget McKenzie, arguing for a review of the Food Standards Australia-New Zealand and the development of regulations to prevent plant-based alternatives from 'evoking' the qualities and values of dairy.

A petition by the dairy farmer group has also gained more than 2,000 signatures