Are Farmers Milking It?

Are Farmers Milking It?

New Zealand's dairy farmers say non-animal ‘milks’ are cashing in on their product's good name.

Across the ditch, Dairy Connect, a lobby group for Australian farmers, is asking for a ‘truth in labelling crackdown’ on the way the word ‘milk’ is used by manufacturers of plant-based milk products.

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand defines the word milk as "the mammary secretion of milking animals". Though a quick check of the Webster’s also includes ‘a food product produced from seeds or fruit that resembles and is used similarly to cow's milk.

This reliance on an industry only definition of the word makes it a curly decision for Food Standards New Zealand, however James Crow, co founder of Little Island Coconut Creamery, says avoiding consumer confusion should be paramount.

“If anything, the growing concerns around dairy farming’s connection with declining water quality, climate change and bobby cows makes the out-dated market definition of ‘milk’ a risky one to use. However, it works best for shoppers and they are who we’re there to serve, not any lobby group or competitors,” says Crow.

Although not acknowledged as their main motivation, the dairy industry appears scared of losing more of their global market share - and who can blame them?

The past five years has seen a revolution in plant-based milks, where dairy is the comparison and taste must stack up. Leading this charge has been almond milk, which in the US has seen 250% growth in the past five years, with the dairy alternative milk category grossing $1 billion in sales. Almond milk alone brought in more than $894 million in sales in 2015.

The second largest, and fastest growing plant-based milk is coconut, and local coconut milk and ice cream business Little Island Coconut Creamery is a prime example of this market growth, with its coconut milks and ice cream placing the plant-based brand 27th at last year’s Deloitte’s Fast 50 with 305% growth. No dairy based business appeared to make this cut in 2016.

It is not known if the Food Standards body will reply to dairy farmers’ pleas for a ‘crackdown’ but Little Island is relaxed either way.

“We would of course follow any enforcement that Food Standard New Zealand put in place, but until then we will keep describing our products as consumers have become used to seeing them,” says Crow.

Did you know?

US Dairy lobby groups have been asking the FDA for action on enforced definitions of non-dairt milks for over 17 years with now resulting action.

https://www.bevnet.com/news/2017/identity-crisis-brews-alt-milks-congress-pushes-fda-scrutiny

Considering dairy accounts for only 3.5% of our GDP, perhaps we should we focusing more on cleaner exportable assets, such as intellectual property and ethical products and service industries.

https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/dairy-sector-contributes-8-billion-gdp-jw-199810

French dairy behemoth Danone purchased organic food group WhiteWave for $12.5bn.

https://www.ft.com/content/7df72c04-491a-11e6-8d68-72e9211e86ab

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