Dairy Farmers Renew Push for Mandatory Labelling Rules After UK Court Ruling

Australian dairy farmers have renewed calls for mandatory rules protecting dairy terms following a UK Supreme Court decision that ruled plant-based products cannot be labelled as milk, butter or yoghurt.

The court confirmed that using dairy language in ways that could mislead consumers is not allowed.

Australian Dairy Farmers says Australian shoppers are at risk of similar confusion, with plant-based alternatives often engineered to mimic the taste and look of dairy, but not its natural nutritional profile.

ADF President Ben Bennett says Australia is falling behind international standards.

“Words matter. When consumers pick up a product labelled milk, it should have come from a cow, not a marketing department,” he said.

Mr Bennett also criticised the federal government’s voluntary approach to plant-based labelling, arguing that letting the industry draft its own rules is a clear conflict of interest.

He questioned the $1.5 million government-funded labelling review, which claimed there was limited consumer confusion, saying the survey did not ask the right questions about nutritional equivalence.

Across the UK, EU and US, dairy terms are legally reserved for animal products.

ADF says Australia should follow suit to protect farmers and maintain credibility in global markets.

“Consumers should have confidence that what they buy as dairy is truly dairy,” Mr Bennett said, “and not a product engineered to look like it.”