• @reddig33@lemmy.world
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    4411 months ago

    You can declare war on it all you want. It’s not going away no matter what it’s called. Seems like a real waste of money to be arguing about it.

    • Streptember
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      711 months ago

      But if they can kick down at it, slow it down, and force all the brands to rebrand and rename their products, they might scare some people away from it for good and just make others ignore it due to confusing or unfamiliar naming.

      • Smoogy
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        511 months ago

        I don’t think you’re giving people much credit. The fact they accepted these drinks as it is to begin with speaks a lot for habit

    • @Addition@sh.itjust.works
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      411 months ago

      It’s modern capitalism 101. Can’t beat them on the market? Start filing frivolous lawsuits until your competition collapses under the weight of legal fees even if they win every case.

      • @witten@lemmy.world
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        111 months ago

        Yeah, basically. If you want it richer like commercial oat milk and/or you want it not to separate in coffee, you’ll also need to blend in some neutral oil plus xanthan gum after straining.

  • @tone@lemmy.world
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    4411 months ago

    The dairy industry receives tens of billions in federal subsidies each year, and then dumps $100 million back on congress to solidify their position and earn even more favorable treatment from Congress. Really nasty system we have.

  • DecafColdBrew
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    4211 months ago

    Don’t know about you, but I’m not going to start buying liquid milked from a cow, and stop buying liquid that was milked from a bunch of almonds, just because cow-milkers won’t let almond-milkers say “milk”. The non-dairy producers will just get creative and name their stuff something else, like Malk

  • kitonthenet
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    3011 months ago

    it obviously doesn’t confuse consumers: no one thinks you can milk an almond. It’s just another way for a big business interest to try to push an agenda

    • Terrasque
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      211 months ago

      looks through this thread

      Apparently many seem to think just that

      • kitonthenet
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        11 months ago

        No way, the dumbass who didn’t read the package (that says non-dairy cheese right on it) is not a reason to let the government prop up a big agribusiness. Should the vegan cheeses not be allowed to put a picture of their product on the package either for when people decide not to read the package?

  • Jordan Lund
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    3011 months ago

    Big dairy’s collusion with the US government is a much deeper issue than anyone suspects.

    Here’s a good read on it, I wish everyone knew about this:

    https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/doctors-denounce-government-partnership-pizza-hut-push-cheese

    tl;dr The US government is partnering with food manufacturers (and Pizza Hut) to increase the amount of cheese in products in order to prop up the dairy industry.

    When it comes down to “can oat milk be called milk?” I think the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

    FWIW - I consider myself “lactose ambivalent”. I’m not intolerant. :) It just doesn’t occur to me to buy dairy most of the time.

    I do enjoy Oat Milk, I wish it didn’t have as much sugar in it as it does. :( It really doesn’t like me though!

    • @Chickenstalker@lemmy.world
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      611 months ago

      The US FDA is a captured organization. The familiar food pyramid was hogwash designed to support the grains industry and led to the obesity epidemic.

    • @Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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      511 months ago

      Something I think gets glossed over by most folks is inflation figures effect on food. Things in the inflation index consumer basket, always subsidized. If the government didn’t manipulate the price on these items they’d have to pay out more in pensions and social security payments.

      Everything that effects inflation figures is subsidized. Corn gets to double dip. It’s in so many good products and they make gas with it. Our corn is so subsidized that other countries don’t allow it to be imported.

  • @hakase@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    It only took one time for me ruining a pizza with congealed palm oil deliberately masquerading as “mozzarella cheese” to be 100% on big dairy’s side here.

    If it’s not an animal product, it shouldn’t be labeled “milk” or “cheese”

    • trevor
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      2111 months ago

      The term “milk” is an old chemistry term referring to a “heterogeneous mixture of insoluble compounds”. “Colloid” is the modern term. Think “milk of magnesia”, which is used as an antacid. It is called a milk because the Mg(OH)2 doesn’t dissolve and just forms a suspension. Almond milk is a suspension of ground up almond particles. Cow milk is a suspension of fat particles that won’t dissolve. This is why milk is homogenized: because it wants to form a floating fat layer and water layer. That’s unappealing so they fake making it look the same throughout. It is not a homogeneous solution. So anything you can mix up in water that doesn’t dissolve and it stays suspended is “milk”.

      • @reallyNaughty@lemmynsfw.com
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        611 months ago

        I mean, it’s two definitions for the same word. And it looks like mammary secretions is the older version, I think. Additionally, personally that is what I think of when I think of milk. I think of almond milk as an emulsion of almonds that approximates milk and I think most people agree with me.

        That said, I am not going to confuse almond milk for milk unless they just straight up call it milk.

        Bare minimum research: https://www.etymonline.com/word/milk

      • @hakase@lemm.ee
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        311 months ago

        So anything you can mix up in water that doesn’t dissolve and it stays suspended is “milk”.

        Not to consumers, which is ultimately the only thing that should matter when making decisions on how food should and should not be labeled.

      • @eatthecake@lemmy.world
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        411 months ago

        I once had to waste 5 minutes and way too many clicks to find that a hamburger was not meat, no idea what it was actually made of because they won’t tell you. I wanted to find out why it was cheap. You can’t pretend that they aren’t being misleading and trying to hide things and the fact that you are really doesn’t help your cause.

        • kitonthenet
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          211 months ago

          I don’t have a cause besides keeping the government from favoring big businesses, why should the dairy industry get to say I can’t put “m’lk” on my package because they don’t like it

      • @hakase@lemm.ee
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        111 months ago

        Warning labels aren’t helpful when they’re intentionally misleading. That’s kinda the entire point.

  • @drekloge@lemmy.world
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    1011 months ago

    I get it. There’s the old Lewis Black rant that you need a tit for “milk” and no one wants to drink something called “soy juice.” But I think that letting plant-based alternatives label themselves as “milk” allows them to compete in an arena where they are a tiny fraction of sales.

    Plant-based milk often uses much less water than animal milk.

    TLDR: Oat milk is fukken awesome and also like the one thing my kid isn’t allergic to.

  • Alien Nathan Edward
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    911 months ago

    I’m a fairly big fan of coconut fluid in particular but it’s not milk. it’s just not. milk comes from a titty. you can sell milk substitutes. I even prefer them, but it simply is not milk and I’m fine with food needing to be labelled what it is.

  • @krayj@lemmy.world
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    911 months ago

    They are deep-pocketed, and they may be participating in a war, but certain words have technical definitions that are important to maintain when it comes to substances we ingest. Labeling anything as “milk” that did not come from the mammary glands of a mammal is technically wrong. Labeling anything as “mayonnaise” that isn’t produced using poultry eggs is technically wrong. Labeling anything as “cheese” that isn’t made from milk (see milk definition earlier) is technically wrong. Regardless of how evil you think these corporations are…they’re not wrong in this case.

    • @inasaba@lemmy.ml
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      3511 months ago

      People have been referring to white plant excretions as “milks” for hundreds of years. Coconut milk, milk of magnesia, etc. Hell, almond milk was a popular ingredient in the Middle Ages.

      But you’ll also notice that language has changed a lot since the Middle Ages. This is a natural process, and no amount of prescriptivism or pedantry will stop it. Calling things that are not dairy — but that we use in all of the exact same ways as dairy milk — “milks” is not a problem.

    • @Nachorella@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3011 months ago

      Yeah, just the other day I bought some chocolate eggs and when I went to fry them up for breakfast it turned out they were chocolate (wtf) this mis-labeling of things is just too confusing.

    • Streptember
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      2111 months ago

      The use of the word “milk” to refer to plant-based milks is older than the country in which this argument is occurring.

    • @markr@lemmy.world
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      311 months ago

      I agree that Kraft slices and whatever the fuck velveeta is should be banned from advertising themselves as cheese.

    • Alien Nathan Edward
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      211 months ago

      I’m on your side here but I also want to make platypus mayonnaise now just out of a sense of spite

      • @krayj@lemmy.world
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        111 months ago

        This piqued my curiosity but I couldn’t find any video. I’m now wondering if this is even possible and how weird it might look/taste.

  • Overzeetop
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    911 months ago

    Can’t we just call it creamy nut juice and move on?

    As someone who knows a couple of (small time) dairy farmers personally, “Deep-pocketed dairy industry” is a term I didn’t’ think I’d ever see.