I often have to chuckle when I read about updates (news) in the dairy industry in European countries. Some countries not only have regular and organic milk, they also have grass milk and, get this, hay milk.
In Austria, of the total milk production in 2016, 15 percent was organic milk and 15 percent was hay milk. Hay milk comes from cows that in winter get traditional dry hay and go on pasture in the summer. What’s next, hay made the old-fashioned way with a mower and gathered in as loose hay?
In Great Britain, a new organization called the Free Range Milk Marketing Board represents a group of more than 700 dairy farmers. They call themselves Free-Range Dairy Farmers and aim to provide consumers the opportunity to choose milk from guaranteed free-range farms while offering farmers a fair (better, I’m sure) deal. It has exceeded expectations since this February’s launch.
A ruling last month by the European Court of Justice was great news for dairy farmers. It ruled that plant-based products cannot be labelled with dairy names, even if the label clearly states that it is of plant origin. It means that dairy names such as ‘butter’, ‘cheese’ or ‘milk’ cannot be used unless the products are of animal origin.
Food companies that sell products labelled “soya milk” or “tofu butter” in the EU must rebrand their items or face potential legal action, after Europe’s top court ruled only products containing real milk may use the term.
There were exceptions grandfathered in, which were granted on a country by country basis. They included favourites such as ice cream, cream soda, butter beans, coconut milk and almond milk.
The European Court of Justice ruling refers to a case against a German food company which sells products such as “Soyatoo tofu butter”, “Plant cheese”, and “Veggie cheese”.
The company argued it was not breaching EU law as it had made clear the plant origins of its products. But the ECJ ruling confirmed that labels such as milk, cheese, yoghurt and butter “cannot be legally used to designate a purely plant-based product”.
The court said that milk referred “exclusively to normal mammary secretion”, and that the use of extra descriptive or clarifying phrases “has no influence on that prohibition”.
The judgment was celebrated by dairy farm groups. A spokesman for one group said: “The unique and natural blend of micro- and macronutrients of milk and dairy products cannot be matched by any plant-based product.”
European vegetarian groups were critical, however. “Today’s verdict by the ECJ has little to do with consumer protection,” said a spokesman for the European Vegetarian Union.
Alpro, Europe’s largest producer of soya milk, said it complied with all current regulations and that the judgment would have “no impact” as it already labels its products appropriately.
