A dairy state Senator remains critical of the Food and Drug Administration for failing to enforce dairy labeling standards.

Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin confronted FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf and Deputy Commissioner Jim Jones during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee hearing on the diabetes and obesity epidemics in America.  Baldwin says consumers need clear and accurate information at the grocery store by enforcing labeling standards and upholding the agency’s own standards of identity rules. “I’ve repeatedly asked the agency to enforce labeling standards, and even secured funding for the FDA to dedicate to this purpose, so I’m very disappointed by the lack of progress made at FDA.”

Baldwin says the FDA published draft guidance in 2023 that enables misleading product labels to remain on store shelves, and only provides voluntary guidelines for plant-based products, which she says violates FDA’s standards of identity rules and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Baldwin says consumers get confused when the label includes the word “milk” on non-dairy substitutes, but Jones says the labels are clear. “The issue of using the term ‘milk’, you have to. to use it, you have to characterize what it is derived from, so it has to say soy milk or oat milk. You can’t just say milk.”

Baldwin says the plant-based substitutes shouldn’t use the term at all. “Well, it would be cleared up if they didn’t use the term ‘milk’, right?”

Baldwin also expressed concern about the increasing availability of cell-based, lab-grown substitutes that are using dairy terms, and wants the FDA to have a clear plan for enforcement of labeling guidelines for these products, as well as the plant-based products.

AUDIO: Excerpt from 12/5/24 Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on the diabetes and obesity epidemics in America

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