Comment on UK | Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to label vegan drinks
kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 18 hours agoWhat do you think changed?
From my perspective, people made this and used this in their own homes. It was in cookbooks. Being able to buy it in a store doesn’t change the context of 800+ years of history.
CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
For me, home production for personal use is different than commercial production because it isn’t subject to the same health and safety standards. When you take something to market, the consumer no longer has any relation to the production process — they never looked at the cookbook, or saw an almond. You’re exposing whole classes of people to something that they do not have the kind of intimate experience with a food you’re describing. Instead, almond milk is the result of some mysterious industrial process, rather than something that comes from a cheesecloth in your kitchen. I think, experientially, buying a carton of almond milk at a store is very different than making it at home.
kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 17 hours ago
But in what way does that change the meaning of the established linguistics? That’s the part I’m struggling to grasp. I understand the commercial milk producers wanting to muddy the waters from a competitive perspective, but why should you or I want almond milk, or other plant based milks, called something not ‘milk’?
CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Because for many people, an alt milk is a new product — even if a product has existed for hundreds of years, you may be one of today’s lucky 10,000. It doesn’t much matter how long dolmas, or samosas, or arepas, or lumpia have existed, if you’ve never encountered it. What you and I, who are familiar with the production of alt milks, call them informally amongst ourselves is not what is at issue. I just don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that the word “milk” has a formal, legal definition, and that alt milks don’t fulfill it. I would take objection to courts saying that latex isn’t milk, for instance, because to my mind, the product of p somniferum is produced using a milking process, while an almond milk is an emulsion.
kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 17 hours ago
Hmm. I’m afraid this is where we’re going to disagree. I don’t agree milk needs a legal definition. I don’t agree that consumers need protection from the word ‘milk’ being attached to other products, especially plant based milks that are generally clearly labeled and have hundreds or more years of context in our language.
Hell. There’s ‘human milk’, ‘goat milk’, ‘yak milk’, etc.
If something needs to change, it should be that we need to now call it ‘cow milk’ and truly protect the consumer from confusion.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de 12 hours ago
Unless you’re drinking milk from the cow’s tit, your milk is very mucg an industrial product to make it shelf stable and consistent. People have a totally wrong idea of what real milk feels or tastes like or what’s involved in its production. At least oat milk is literally just filtered porridge you can make at home.
CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Absolutely! I am not pro-dairy; it’s production is definitely an immoral practice. I am not in favor of this decision because it is pro-dairy, but because it is pro-consumer. For me, the same consumer protections that prevent me from buying vegan cheese when I mean to buy dairy cheese are the same consumer protections that prevent me from buying cheez-whiz when I mean to buy dairy cheese. The consumer protections that allow people to make informed decisions that I find morally reprehensible are the same consumer protections that allow me to make informed decisions that I find morally superior. I like this decision because I feel like I won, even though the evil dairies also won.