US Dairy Pride Act Protects Consumers Against Misleading Labels on Non-Dairy Products

| United States | Dairy
Posted By: Trace One

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On March 14, 2019, US Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jim Risch (R-ID) presented “The Dairy Pride Act – Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, Milk and Cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act” to Congress.

Nowadays, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines dairy products as “Food products made exclusively or principally from the lacteal secretion obtained from one or more healthy milk-producing animals (21 CFR 1240.3(j)).” However, plant-based substitutes erupted in grocery stores and their consumption increased among the American population.

Due to a gap in labeling requirements of dairy alternatives, consumers have started perceiving them as having the same nutritional content as actual dairy products.

Therefore, the urgency of clarification in the standards of identity and labeling of non-dairy products has been introduced to the Congress in 2017, unsuccessfully. Recently, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a solicitation for public comment on the use of the names of non-dairy food products labeling in the Federal Register.

With the Dairy Pride Act, the use of terms “yogurt”, “milk” and “cheese” in the labels of plant-based products has been forbidden. Plus, Senators requested FDA guidance for enforcement of mislabeled imitation dairy products.

Read the full text of the Dairy Pride Act here.