A senior agency official essentially agreed with his criticism, Bottemiller Evich reports. The agency has “too many programs and not enough resources,” Janet Woodcock, the FDA’s deputy chief commissioner, told her, “and the mismatch is deep.” As for the food division, it is “very important, but it has very few resources.”
However, it appears that the FDA has found time to intervene on behalf of the dairy industry to achieve one of its main pressure targets. “For too long, the FDA has not taken action to address the nutritional crisis we face in our country,” Booker said, referring to rising levels of diet-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes. to the consumption of poorly regulated ultra-processed products. food. “Instead of using its regulatory authority to protect consumers, the FDA now seems willing, in a blatant example of regulatory capture after years of pressure from the dairy industry, to take action solely to protect the quota. “I am deeply concerned about the FDA’s misguided priorities and hope that the Office of Management and Budget will return the proposed guidance to the FDA for reconsideration.” The budget office declined to comment on its timetable for deciding on the FDA proposal.
In a letter to the OMB published on May 19, Booke joined forces with Senator Mike Lee of Utah, Representative Julia Brownley of California and Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina to make a similar request for the OMB crush any plan to suppress the labeling of plant-based milks. They pointed to a 2017 federal court ruling rejecting the dairy industry’s claim that consumers cannot assess nutritional differences between dairy and non-dairy products.
To me, Big Dairy’s fixation on accumulating the name “milk” is as baffling as Califf’s decision to make the issue a priority right now. Consumption of cow’s milk has been declining for decades, long before the rise in almond milk in the early 2010s and the more recent boom in oat milk. In 1945, Americans consumed an average of 45 gallons of milk per capita, which translates to an impressive 2.3 cups a day. This turned out to be the summit that precedes a long, steady descending slope. Now, 77 years later, we consume only 0.57 cups a day, and fall, almost half in cereal or mixed with other beverages such as coffee.
After decades as a marginal food found primarily in health food stores, dairy-free alternatives began to rise in popularity over the 21st century, and now account for 15 percent of “all dollar sales of milk retail “, according to the vegan think tank. Institute of Good Nutrition. Still, Big Dairy can’t blame the rise in alternatives even for the recent drop in milk. A 2020 study by USDA researchers found that “the increase in sales of plant-based options between 2013 and 2017 is one-fifth of the decline in purchases of cow’s milk from Americans.” . He concluded that “sales of vegetable milk alternatives are contributing to, but not a major factor in, declining sales of cow’s milk.”
There is also no evidence that the abandonment of milk in the United States as a beverage has had a negative nutritional effect. Dietary calcium intake, the characteristic nutrient in the product, steadily increased for all age groups between 1994 and 2010, a USDA study found, although per capita milk consumption declined. Similarly, cow’s milk offers many times the protein of most of its plant-derived rivals; but as we move away, no signs of protein deficiency have developed in our diets.
In short, the battle over naming the things we rely on to improve coffee and cereal is very much like a storm in a cappuccino cup. The FDA has more burning issues to address. Like, for example, the current crisis of the infant formula. And so does the dairy industry, including the problem of chronic overproduction.
