Plant-Based Milk–Thoughts of Researchers and Industries on What Should Be Called as ´milk

Abstract

The demand for plant-based milk alternatives (PMAs) has increased significantly in recent years, whether for health, sustainability, ethical or environmental motives. On the other hand, the dairy industry is under pressure due to factory farming and environmental impact. Furthermore, various reasons such as lactose intolerance or cow’s milk allergy are also leading to a larger and broader market for PMA products derived from different plants. This growing interest is accompanied by appropriate marketing strategies for selling the products in the best possible way. Suitable methods for this are placing the product in the supermarket near the cow’s milk and labelling that is recognizable and easy for the customer to understand. Nevertheless, the labelling of PMA products with dairy-associated terms should meet different legal basis in the world, so that there is a uniform naming of PMAs. PMAs have different nutritional composition from cow’s milk and from each other, which, in combination with the legal situation, has led to a great deal of discussion about the labelling of PMAs. This study presents a review of published data regarding the legalization of these lactate-free plant-based products as well as the naming of these products, with consequences of naming PMAs as milk.