WASHINGTON, D.C. – Manufacturers of plant-based milk alternatives (PBMA) that label their products as milk may continue to use that term under a draft proposal released Feb. 22 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In the FDA’s guidance, the agency recommended that PBMA products labeled with the term milk – such as soy or almond milk – and that have a nutrient composition different than milk include a voluntary nutrient statement showing how the product compares with milk based on the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service fluid milk substitutes nutrient criteria.

“Industry’s use of these voluntary nutrient statements would provide consumers with additional nutrition information to help them understand certain nutritional differences between these products and milk, and make informed dietary choices,” FDA said.

The draft guidance will provide the industry with recommendations that will result in clear labeling to empower consumers with information to help them make more informed purchasing decisions, the agency said. “These statements will help consumers make informed dietary choices when it comes to understanding certain nutritional differences between plant-based products that are labeled with ‘milk’ in their names and milk,” FDA explained.

The guidance document should be viewed as a recommendation and it doesn’t have the force and effect of law, the agency noted.

Retail sales of PBMA’s totaled about $2.4 billion in 2020, up from $1.5 billion in 2016, according to the FDA. The variety of PBMA’s in the marketplace has expanded from soy, rice and almond to include coconut, flaxseed, macadamia nut, peanut and quinoa.

Consumers buy PBMA’s for a variety of reasons, the agency said, including allergies, intolerances, religious practices and lifestyle choices. Consumers report they use PBMA’s in a similar way as milk, such as in cereal, coffee and smoothies.

The FDA said studies have shown that consumers, when shopping for various types of products labeled with the term milk, understand that PBMA’s do not contain milk. “In particular, one consumer survey suggested that about three-quarters of its respondents understood that plant-based milk alternatives do not contain milk,” the agency said. “Fewer than 10 percent believed that plant-based milk alternatives do contain milk, and the remainder did not know.

“Other research also appears to show that consumers understand that plant-based milk alternatives are distinct products and choose to purchase (them) because they are not milk.”

Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, said in a statement that the FDA’s announcement “is a step toward labeling integrity for consumers of dairy products, even as it falls short of ending the decades-old problem of misleading plant-based labeling using dairy terminology. By acknowledging both the utter lack of nutritional standards prevalent in plant-based beverages and the confusion over nutritional value that’s prevailed in the marketplace because of the unlawful use of dairy terms, FDA’s proposed guidance will provide greater transparency that’s sorely needed for consumers to make informed choices.”

Rachel Dreskin, CEO of the Plant Based Foods Association, commended the FDA’s acknowledgment that consumers are affirmatively choosing plant-based milks because of their many benefits for human and planetary health.

“However, we see many suggestions in this proposal that are unfairly burdensome to companies, and frankly, treat plant-based products differently than any other foods in the market,” she said in a statement.

The FDA’s suggestion that the inherent nutritional content of plant-based milk products is inferior to that of dairy milk products is not only discriminatory toward the plant-based sector, “but it also threatens to jeopardize growth of the innovative plant-based foods industry,” the association said.

Public comments on FDA’s draft guidance should be submitted by April 24, 2023, to ensure they are considered before a final version is written. Electronic comments may be submitted to www.regulations.gov. Comments may also be mailed to Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Comments should be identified with the docket number FDA-2023-D-0451.