Alternative milks have also faced legislative action at the state level. Interestingly enough, in 2018, North Carolina passed a law that provides for an embargo in the state of all plant-based products “mislabeled” as milk, but only if eleven states in a compact of southern states pass a similar law.  As of 2019, other members of this compact, including Maryland, are beginning to pass embargo legislation, but the critical threshold of states needed to give effect to the legislation has not been reached.  Separately, Washington State is currently considering in state senate committee a bill that would make it unlawful to sell, offer for sale, or deliver any product that is identified by the word “milk” and that is intended for human consumption as food or drink if the product is not milk or does not contain milk or milk products. It is unclear, however, whether this bill will gain the traction needed to pass into law.

Finally, it is noteworthy that the European Union has enacted legislation requiring non-dairy milks to be referred to as “mylk.” American legislatures might be well advised to consider similar proposals in the future, in order to obviously distinguish dairy milk from non-dairy milk, without greatly diminishing the descriptive force of the comparison to “milk.”