By an 84-14 vote, the Senate this week rejected an effort to block the FDA’s Food Standards Enforcement efforts.  The vote comes a week after FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced his department would crack down on the use of milk by plant-based beverages.  Chris Galen with the National Milk Producers Federation said this week’s vote is a win for the consumer.

 

"Many times, people assume that anything called milk has the same basic nutritional constituents and nutrients as real milk and that’s not the case, there’s no consistency in the nutritional offerings of  these plant based offerings, expect that we know that they are inferior.”

 

Galen added this legislation, proposed by Senators Mike Lee and Cory Booker would have put tacks in the roadway as the FDA tries to do its job.  Galen added this issue is not over by a long shot, saying the vegan community will continue to fight.

 

“There’s only one real milk, not all of the products calling themselves milk are created equal, and that’s why we need the FDA here, to put its foot down and enforcing these standards.”

 

Galen says the NMPF does not have a problem with these products being on store shelves, but has a problem with the term milk being used, thus confusing consumers.

 

 

 

 

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