Posted on
October 08, 2024 by
The VRG Weblog Editor
by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
“Dairy-free” appears to be displaying up extra generally on meals labels, in some instances it appears to be used as a substitute of “vegan.” What does it imply when a product is labeled “dairy-free”?
Phrases comparable to “dairy-free” or “milk free” and even “vegan” or “vegetarian” are usually not outlined by the US Meals and Drug Administration (FDA). In line with the FDA, when claims like these are made, they should be truthful and never deceptive.
The FDA lately launched outcomes of a examine they performed through which samples of darkish chocolate and merchandise containing darkish chocolate, all of which had been labeled as “dairy-free,” had been examined for the presence of cow’s milk. Merchandise examined included chocolate bars, chocolate chips, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate syrup. A complete of 210 samples had been collected in shops in Pennsylvania and Michigan in 2022 and 2023. Of those, 13 samples, made by three totally different corporations, examined constructive for cow’s milk. Names of corporations weren’t launched however 1 product was a cookie and the opposite 12 had been chocolate bars. The entire merchandise that examined constructive for milk had “dairy-free” on the label and had advisory statements which are supposed to point the attainable presence of milk to shoppers comparable to “made in a facility that additionally processes milk.”
The cow’s milk that was detected within the samples might have been as a consequence of a labeling error or to cross-contamination from dairy components being produced on the identical gear. FDA met with the three corporations whose product or merchandise examined constructive. Two corporations eliminated “dairy-free” from the label of their merchandise. The opposite firm agreed to take away “dairy-free” from the label if they might not decide the place the milk got here from and remove the supply of milk from their merchandise.
It appears clear that “dairy-free” on a product label is just not an absolute assure that there isn’t a cow’s milk in that product. The FDA suggests that buyers for whom the presence of dairy is a priority to “contact the producers and inquire about how the product is made, together with whether or not the product is made on gear devoted to creating dairy-free chocolate, whether or not the components used are freed from milk, and whether or not the producer exams its merchandise with ‘dairy-free’ claims for the presence of milk.”
To learn extra about this examine see FDA’s Abstract Report: FY 22/23 Pattern Assortment and Evaluation of Retail Dairy-Free Darkish Chocolate and Chocolate-Containing Merchandise for Milk Allergen.
