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Plant milks worse for environment than cow milk


The climate change situation is only worsening.

If you are drinking plant-based “milks” because you think they are better for the environment, think again says a Fonterra scientist.

Nielsen Scantrack data shows sales of alternative milks have taken off in the past two years, with 25 per cent of total market share of all milk categories. In 2017 Kiwis spent $52 million on them, but that has risen to $144m in the last 12 months, with almond milk the most popular, followed by soya.

The value of the alternative milk market is growing at 7.6 per cent a year, while cow milk value is flat.

​But milk substitutes such as soy, almond, oat and rice have double the greenhouse gas emissions of Fonterra’s milk produced in New Zealand, when compared on the basis of their nutrient content.

The climate change situation is only worsening.

If you are drinking plant-based “milks” because you think they are better for the environment, think again says a Fonterra scientist.

Nielsen Scantrack data shows sales of alternative milks have taken off in the past two years, with 25 per cent of total market share of all milk categories. In 2017 Kiwis spent $52 million on them, but that has risen to $144m in the last 12 months, with almond milk the most popular, followed by soya.

The value of the alternative milk market is growing at 7.6 per cent a year, while cow milk value is flat.

​But milk substitutes such as soy, almond, oat and rice have double the greenhouse gas emissions of Fonterra’s milk produced in New Zealand, when compared on the basis of their nutrient content.

“Nutrients from effluent run-off also contribute significant damage to our natural environment and ecosystems. Plant-based milks have the benefits of being much kinder to our planet, human health and animals,” Safe’s head of education Nichola Kriek said.

Fonterra said fake milks were also inferior nutritionally to cow’s milk and cost more. Milk protein was up to 30 per cent higher in nutritional quality than the quality of the highest scoring plant proteins and over three-fold higher in nutritional quality than the worst scoring plant proteins. 

The top scoring plant protein is soy at 28.1 grams per litre, but macadamia (6.1g/l), rice (7.4g/l) and almond (8.1g/l) rate much lower. Cow’s milk produces 32g per litre of protein.

Fonterra’s chief technologist Dr Jeremy Hill said a collaborative study by United States and Swedish universities examined cow’s milk and others for their environmental impact, based on nutrient content.

The study looked at 21 essential nutrients in a range of retail drinks available in Sweden and found that the GHG production to nutrient content of cow’s milk was significantly less than all other beverages. 

Swedish milk had GHG production to nutrients content less than half that of the soy-based milk substitute and less than 10 per cent of the rice-based milk substitute. 

Hill said New Zealand milk had a 30 per cent lower GHG footprint than Swedish milk. 

“The Eat-Lancet report showed plant-based agriculture was responsible for 70-80 per cent of nitrogen application, 70-80 per cent of phosphate application, 90 per cent of freshwater use.”

The findings come at the same time that Federated Farmers has called for a ban on the term “milk” if it comes from plants.

The US dairy industry has also been clamouring for a ban, but the Food and Drug Administration has resisted on the grounds it has tacitly endorsed terms such as “almond milk” for decades.

Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor also recently said it would be a big challenge to change the labelling.

“We’re absolutely committed to ‘true to label’ labelling, so if products are made from plants that should be stated clearly.

“The issue of whether it’s called ‘meat’ or ‘milk’ is a difficult one. It’s something I’m prepared to look at and see what’s happening internationally but at this point there’s no move to restrict the use of those words,” O’Connor said.

Kriek said the dairy industry was inherently cruel to animals.

“Plant-based milks are kinder to animals, as it doesn’t require cows to be forcibly impregnated or have their babies ripped away from their mothers at a young age.”

The Feds dairy group chairman Chris Lewis said Safe’s statement was “rhetoric” compared with Fonterra’s science.

Many almond milks only have 2.5 per cent almonds in them.
EWAN SARGENT/STUFF
Many almond milks only have 2.5 per cent almonds in them.

He said the trend in food was towards raw ingredients and less processing.

“They like the produce New Zealand farmers produce because it’s the real deal. If it’s not a milk from an udder of a mammal, then don’t call it a milk.

“If it’s been highly processed with lots of water added, it’s probably more like a juice and should be called that,” Lewis said.

Source: Stuff


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