It was discussed about meat sounding e Cheese Sounding, in recent months, thanks to aquestion to the European Parliament and to one ruling of the Court of Justice. And it's time to face another consumer deception, the milk sounding.
The milk
Inimitable in its genuine essence, milk. It is evoked in astronomy - with the Milky Way - and in the vocabulary ('milky') to express what everyone has always known as such.
'The denomination' milk 'is reserved exclusively for the product of normal mammary secretion, obtained by one or more milkings, without any addition or subtraction'.
(Reg. CE 1234/07, Annex XIII, point II)
Milk is crucial in the first period of life of human beings, as of all mammals. And it maintains a key role for human nutrition throughout life. For reasons that are partly explained by science, (1) partly by the millenary tradition of consumption.
Name of the food, milk and derivatives
'Regulation (EC) no. 1234/2007 requires that the names of milk and dairy products be reserved exclusively for the products listed in the relevant Annex XII, point II'(see above paragraph, blue box). (2)
The European Commission, by decision 2010/791 / EU, has collected the denominations of food which - as an exclusive exception to the above - may include the name of milk or its derivatives, despite having completely different characteristics. By reason of 'traditional use'and on condition that the consumer is well informed'the exact nature ' products.
'Almond milk', 'Coconut milk', 'cocoa butter', 'green beans with butter' are the only names of non-dairy products allowed by the European Commission, in Italian, in the denomination of foods. (3)
Milk sounding
The system of rules is so clear that no one dares to evoke milk anymore to describe a drink made from cereals (eg rice, oats) or legumes (eg soy).
The deceptions to the consumer however, they are more subtle and pass through the equation with fresh milk of foods that - even if they contain it among the ingredients, in a distorted form due to industrial transformation processes - are completely incomparable.
Il milk sounding is that of Misleading advertisements for Galatine candy e 'slices of milk' Inalpi, which we have already reported to the Institute for Advertising Self-Regulation. And it is also that of Sangemini water, whose advertising ventures a claim comparative with milk. (4)
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) See 'Cow's milk, role in human nutrition and health effects', Cra-Nut, June 2017, on http://nut.entecra.it/files/download/NEWS/il_latte_vaccino_10072017.pdf
(2) See Decision 2010/791 / EU, Recital 2
(3) See Decision 2010/791 / EU, Annex 1
(4) In spite of the criteria established in reg. CE 1924/06, article 9. According to which nutritional comparisons can be made only between foods belonging to the same category. V. http://www.foodagriculturerequirements.com/category/notizie/domande-e-risposte/mortadella-di-pollo-‘-60-grassi’-risponde-l’avvocato-dario-dongo
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
