Milk is milk.
In some people’s minds, that is no longer the case.
“Who messed up the identity of dairy when it comes to the nutrition side of it?” asked Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of Chobani.
“Okay. There is almond milk out there. I love almonds. I love almonds as nuts,” said the owner of Chobani, who shipped its first case of yogurt in 2007. “I take it and give it to my son. It’s a nutritious product.
“But call it milk with a few almonds in the water? Who is doing this?” asked Ulukaya in speaking at the Dairy Forum hosted by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA).
“It’s the people in this room,” he went on to say at the Scottsdale, Ariz., gathering. “We have dairy companies launching this kind of product and calling it milk and promoting it.
“Everybody knows it’s not coming from the cow. But a lot of people do think it delivers the same nutrition as cow’s milk,” said the owner of a billion dollar dairy brand with plants in New York and Idaho.
“It’s not,” Ulukaya said of plant-based beverages.
“We launched an oat product. I remember the day, sitting around the table, thinking, ‘I cannot call it milk.’ I just called it Chobani Oat.
“It’s not milk,” Ulukaya said of his company’s plant-based products.
To watch the one-hour interview with Hamdi Ulukaya, click on the link to take you to the IDFA YouTube Channel.
