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National Milk applauds European dairy label decision

The National Milk Producers Federation says a European judge made the right decision about imitation dairy product labels.

Chris Galen with National Milk Producers tells Brownfield the European Court of Justice upheld European Union regulations preventing plant-based alternatives from using dairy-related names.  “The European Court of Justice looked at whether an imitation dairy foods company that makes soy ‘cheese’ can use a dairy term like cheese on a tofu-based product, and the European court said no, that’s a violation of our food labeling standards.”

Galen says the issues and regulations in Europe and America are virtually the same, so he’s encouraged by the ruling.  “The U.S. has essentially the same standards for its foods in this country but unfortunately, they’re not being enforced.  So, we’re hoping that our Food and Drug Administration here in the U.S. will look at what’s happening in Europe and try to do the same thing here.”

National Milk Producers supports the DairyPRIDE legislation authored by Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, which Galen says would force the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to enforce existing labeling rules.  He says the DairyPRIDE bill is slowly gaining support in Congress.

DairyPRIDE does not have industry-wide support.  The International Dairy Foods Association has members on both sides of the issue and dropped its support in March.  The American Soybean Association and the Good Food Institute oppose the bill.

 

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