Washington - An industry association representing milk producers is calling on the US federal government to "crack down" on products that are labelled "milk" but contain soy and other non-dairy products.
In a letter to the Food and Drug Administration, the Nation Milk Producers Federation said the "misappropriation of dairy terminology" has spiralled in the last decade.
"The FDA has allowed the meaning of 'milk' to be watered down to the point where many products that use the term have never seen the inside of a barn," said Jerry Kozak, president and CEO of NMPF.
"You don't got milk if it comes from a hemp plant, you can't say cheese if it's made from rice, and faux yoghurt can't be made from soy and still be called yoghurt," he said.
The NMPF first complained about what it deems the misuse of dairy labels to identify non-dairy-based products a decade ago, but it said mislabelling has only expanded since then.
"NMPF contends that not only have the terms 'soy milk' and 'soymilk' continued to proliferate, but also other dairy-specific terms like 'yogurt', 'cheese' and 'ice cream' are now being used by products made out of a wide variety of non-dairy ingredients."
The group wants to limit the use of the terms to products that actually contain animal milk.
Their complaint comes as soy products become increasingly popular in the United States.
According to the Soyfoods Association of North America, sales of soymilk in the United States have risen from about $100-million in 1996 to $1.1-billion in 2008. - Sapa-AFP