AG Today

Ag Today July 31, 2018

Got almond milk? You might have to start calling it something else

BY DALE KASLER July 31, 2018 03:55 AM, The Sacramento Bee

Almond milk is a hit with consumers across the country — and a sweet success for Sacramento’s Blue Diamond Growers in particular.

Blue Diamond’s Almond Breeze has helped turn a quiet agricultural cooperative into a commercially savvy household brand. The beverage, introduced to consumers in the late ’90s, has opened up new markets for Blue Diamond and the 3,000 Central Valley almond farmers who own it.

One problem, though: The federal government has taken issue with how Almond Breeze and others in its product category are marketed. The Food and Drug Administration said recently it plans to prohibit makers of almond milk — and soy milk and rice milk and other non-dairy alternative drinks — from labeling their products as “milk.”

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