The National Milk Producers Federation said today it has “soured” on the Food and Drug Administration’s willingness to devote attention to regulating the names of certain types of sugar, while at the same time “ignoring the misuse of dairy-specific names in foods with no milk content.”

In a letter sent to the FDA in response to a request for comments, National Milk, the largest group representing U.S. dairy farmers and co-ops, questioned why the FDA is focused on clarifying the common or usual name for “dried cane syrup” or “evaporated cane juice” — a type of dried sugar used as a food ingredient — “even as it allows soy, rice, nut and hemp products to define themselves as ‘milk,’ in violation of long-standing food standards.”

▪ National Milk Producers Federation — Comments to FDA on Evaporative Cane Juice