The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intends to crack down on non-dairy products being labelled as milk.

This move will see drinks such as soy and almond milk removing ‘milk’ from their labels.

The issue arose when supporters of the movement noted that federal rules define milk as “the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows”.

Therefore, US FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced a crackdown on “standards of identity” for non-dairy milk, one of the standards maintained by the federal government justifying how foods with various names need to be manufactured and identified.

“Consumers should not be misled that these products have the same nutrition as real milk, yogurt, cheese and other actual dairy products.”

The news comes as a blow for plant-based milk manufacturers, as the change would disrupt many soy and almond drink branding strategies. However, the regulations are expected to take time to come into action.

Federal regulations would require the agency to first issue guidance to notify companies regarding the change and will ask for public comment.

That guidance will be issued within a year, according to Gottlieb as reported by the New York Post.

The National Milk Producers Federation, which has been pushing for such a crackdown, has welcomed the statement.

NMPF president and CEO Jim Mulhern said: “After years of inaction in response to our complaints about these labelling violations, Dr Gottlieb’s announcement that the agency is intending to act on this issue is very encouraging.

“The marketing of non-dairy imitators must comply with federal standards of identity, and consumers should not be misled that these products have the same nutrition as real milk, yogurt, cheese and other actual dairy products.”