Making our case at the Global Food Forum
Although more and more companies are getting on board the plant-based train (a plant-based bacon cheeseburger from Nestlé? Yes, please!), some incumbents are working to stifle innovation and suppress consumer choice.
This is why GFI’s Policy Team works every day to ensure a level playing field for companies building an animal-free future of food. What better place to make the case for free markets than at The Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum, held on October 7?
GFI’s director of policy Jessica Almy, Esq., was featured at this event. In her panel, she forcefully and persuasively made the case for consumer choice and against government censorship. The Journal published an abbreviated transcript; a few highlights below:
“I don’t think consumers are confused when they’re buying almond milk or they’re buying a veggie burger. To ask the government to come in and to censor the competition really is unfair, and moreover, misleading labels are already prohibited by federal law.
“If you go back to when the FDA created the standard of identity for milk, it expressly addressed whether chocolate milk could use the word milk, because there’s chocolate added to it. It said that when milk is modified by another word, in that case chocolate, and now we’re talking about almond or soy or oat, that as long as the meaning is clear to consumers, it doesn’t violate the standard of identity.
“I think what’s important is that milk doesn’t have a single nutritional profile. If you look at the fat content of different milks or the sugar content, you’re going to see a big difference between skim, white milk and a chocolate, full-fat milk. So consumers don’t expect they’re getting one thing when they buy milk.”
Thanks to The Wall Street Journal for this opportunity and to all of GFI’s members for supporting our work for a better future of food.
Header image ©Gabe Palacio
