Machibet Bet Should there be a ‘copyright’ on milk?

India's food safety regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed a ban on plant-based milks from using the label "milk" to differentiate such products from animal-based milk. That has led to a chorus of dismay from the makers of soy, almond and coconut milks etc., who argue that these are healthy alternatives that have always used this labelling. It is a debate that cuts across health, environmental, economic and semantic lines.Milk, Or Milking ItAnimal milk producers and experts say the idea really is that people shouldn't assume plant milks can be a substitute for animal milk. A paper in the Journal of Functional Foods notes that, "Despite the positive health effects of plant-based milk substitutes... they are not a replacement for animal-based milk products". medium77993005Cow's milk is a "good" source of necessary vitamins and minerals like calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A, and other micro-nutrients. People who can consume milk (those that aren't lactose intolerant and do not have dairy allergies), can continue to have milk, the Harvard health journal said. Although it did point out that everybody need not have a similar requirement for obtaining their nutrients from animal milk – more specifically – cow's milk.Dairy producers allege that plant milk makers piggyback on the milk label to market something quite different from animal milk, both for its taste and its nutrition profile. Market watchers said the tendency among uninformed buyers may be to think that almond or cashew milk is milk flavoured with the nut. But plant milk producers respond that there are relevant details on the packaging to help buyers understand the difference.How Plant Milk Makers Argue The CaseMakers of plant milk – which includes soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, cashew milk, pea milk, oat milk, hemp milk, etc. – contend that they don’t try to pretend that they are the same product as animal milk. The fact that they are not derived from animals is what makes plant milks attractive to some buyers in the first place, they argue.Thanks to increasing consciousness about eating habits and the environment, plant-based milks have received considerable traction in recent decades. They are the preferred choice for those who are lactose intolerant or have dairy allergy. medium77992840They have also become the go-to option for vegans, who avoid any animal products, and environmentally conscious people who may not be keen on buying animal milk because of the massive carbon footprint from animal rearing and dairy farming. Plant-milks have a much smaller carbon footprint and are more environmentally friendly, supporters say.People may also have ethical issues about having animal milk because of alleged animal rights abuses involved in deriving milk from animals. Such people all form a very different user base for plant-milks.On the nutrition side, plant milk producers say their products are "richer" on fibre and unsaturated fatty acids and are also cholesterol-free. A paper in ScienceDirect added that "isoflavones that are found naturally in plant-based milk alternatives, especially in soy milk alternatives, decrease cancer risk". medium77992933The Milk StakesPlant-based milk producers say that calls for them to give up the milk label have grown more strident since they demonstrated that they can move from a niche segment to the mainstream. In the US, non-dairy milk sales jumped 60% between 2012 and 2017 to touch $2.1 billion, according to market research firm Mintel. In the same period, the animal milk market shrank by 15% to $16.2 billion. With the health and environment movement attracting more and more supporters, market watchers have forecast that a vibrant and lucrative plant milks market could emerge across countries. Hyderabad-based analysts Mordor Intelligence said in a report that "vegetarian-friendly plant-based milk alternatives are poised to pressurise the traditional dairy market" in India.According to market analysts Businesswire, the Indian dairy alternative market was worth $20.9 million in 2018 and is projected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 20.7% to reach $63.9 million by 2024. It said that North India made up for the largest share of around 40% of the Indian dairy alternative market in 2018. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Among the plant milks, soy milk and almond milk each had about 40% of market share in 2019, according to market research firm Grand View Research. The global dairy alternatives market size is expected to reach $41.06 billion by 2025 at a 16.7% CAGR. medium nocaption77996260Terms Of TradePlant milk makers point out that the label milk has been traditionally applied to different products that have had nothing to do with animals. Thus, they point out that despite variations in techniques of deriving them, almond milk or coconut milk have been called milk for as long as anybody can remember. Forbes magazine mentioned that the etymological root of lettuce and lactate is the same in Latin due to the plant's milky juice. "And when Charles H Phillips sought an antacid patent in 1873, he called his remedy “milk of magnesia,” even though magnesium hydroxide, like almonds, does not lactate," the same article asked. FSSAI has put out its labelling notification with 30 days given for comments on its proposal. Thereafter, officials said, the matter will be taken up by a scientific panel. medium77993188But while it may be clear how animal milks are different from plant-based milks, it has not been easy for dairy producers to win exclusive rights to the milk label. In the US, different courts have ruled that it is not misleading to apply the milk label to non-dairy products.While the commissioner of the US food watchdog famously quipped that "almonds don't lactate", a US court has held, while dismissing a plea for a ban on the label ‘almond milk’, that it is not a substitute for milk and neither can it be termed “nutritionally inferior” to cow’s milk because “two distinct food products necessarily have different nutritional profiles”, Forbes reported.Legal experts have said that admitting such tight definitions may set a precedent for more hair-splitting over terms. The debate over labelling though assumes significance amid the rise of alternative foods, like lab-grown meat, that imitate traditional varieties. The argument that buyers won’t know the difference is not as important as the question whether ambiguity is deliberately created to market a product, or define one’s turf. Experts warn that over-simplifying products may have the unintended effect of sowing more confusion, but so can the absence of acknowledged distinctions.Source: Media reportsUntitled Carousel 77849395