Not Milk the latest dairy alternative on supermarket shelves
A plant-based milk alternative made in Brazil is the latest to hit Australian shelves. See what it is made of.
Move over ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’ – there’s a new discombobulating dairy imitator in town.
Made in Brazil, Not Milk is the latest plant-based milk alternative to hit supermarket shelves- battling established names such as the Swedish brand Oatly and Australian-made Sanitarium So Good.
Priced at $5 a carton, Not Milk contains coconut oil, pea protein, chicory fibre (a common coffee alternative), sugar, pineapple juice concentrate, sunflower oil, dipotassium phosphate (an inorganic compound), calcium carbonate for colouring as well as cabbage juice concentrate.
Marketed as a ‘plant-based beverage’, the manufacturer advises consumers that you can “shake, cook, mix, froth and taste” Not Milk.
United Dairyfarmers of Victoria vice president Mark Billing said it was unsurprising that Not Milk had a long list of ingredients in order to make it palatable.
“That’s the thing about these plant juice alternatives that try to replicate milk. You need to throw a lot of additives in there to give it some form of taste,” he said.
“With milk, you know what you’re getting. It’s milk and that’s it.”
A number of European nations and American states have introduced regulations to stop food manufacturers from co-opting phrases like ‘milk’ and ‘burger’ to describe plant imitations.
Mr Billing said the UDV was one of several organisations calling on Australian regulators to follow suit.
“Milk comes from a mammal, so if it’s plant-based, it isn’t milk,” he said.
“They’re entitled to sell whatever product they want, but the labelling needs to be fair.”
The manufacturers of Not Milk have been contacted for comment.