{"id":518119,"date":"2026-03-04T12:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/518119\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T12:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:47:15","slug":"aussie-dairy-farmers-want-to-reclaim-the-word-milk-from-plant-based-competitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/518119\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie dairy farmers want to reclaim the word ‘milk’ from plant-based competitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffustralian<\/a> dairy farmers are calling for stricter labelling laws so that their plant-based competitors cannot use the word “milk”.The UK<\/a> Supreme Court last month ruled that Swedish company Oatly could no longer trademark or use the phrase “post milk generation” on its products following a lengthy legal battle by Dairy UK.<\/p>\n

Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett wants the federal government to follow suit with mandatory rules, saying milk should come from an animal and not a marketing department.<\/p>\n

\"AustralianAustralian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“You hardly really milk an almond tree,” he said.<\/p>\n

“\ufeffI think we just need to be a bit more honest about the language we use.”<\/p>\n

Bennett has been a dairy farmer in south-west Victoria for the past 20 years and knows first-hand just how much effort goes into producing milk.<\/p>\n

He said plant-based alternatives are “effectively a juice” with different nutritional value and calcium levels from the real thing.<\/p>\n

“We’re all competing for the consumer’s dollar, and rightly so,” he said. \ufeff<\/p>\n

“The consumer should have the opportunity to have a transparent, informed perspective for the product that they’re consuming, and they are distinctly different.”<\/p>\n

\"OatlyOatly can no longer market its plant-based products as “milk” in the UK. (AP)<\/p>\n

Australia has voluntary labelling guidelines outlined in an industry code of practice.<\/p>\n

The federal government put $1.5 million in the 2024-25 budget towards a review of plant-based and alternative protein labelling \ufeffand commissioned Food Standards Australia New Zealand to conduct a rapid review, market survey, and a consumer survey.<\/p>\n

That research found that Australians can accurately identify plant-based products.<\/p>\n

They did not believe plant-based products are nutritionally equivalent to animal counterparts and are not confused about ingredient content. \ufeff<\/p>\n

The government will, therefore, work with the Alternative Proteins Council to strengthen the code of practice. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\u200bThis will provide clearer guidance by discouraging animal imagery, limiting meat-specific terminology, improving the prominence of plant-based qualifiers, and establishing a complaints mechanism.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Australian Dairy Farmers wants only animal-derived products to be labelled as “milk”. (Getty)”Australian consumers should be able to clearly identify both traditional and alternative protein sources,” Agriculture<\/a> Minister Julie Collins said in late January.<\/p>\n

But Bennett’s message to plant-based manufacturers is simple.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeff”I think it’s time that they rode their own boat and stopped endeavouring to emulate us. If they’re so confident in the product, try having your own name,” he said.<\/p>\n

9news.com.au has contacted Oatly and \ufeffthe Alternative Proteins Council for comment.<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\ufeffustralian dairy farmers are calling for stricter labelling laws so that their plant-based competitors cannot use the word…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-518119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}