Ultra Processed Plant Based 'Milk' Like Soy, Oat and Almond

I blinked when I realized that many coffeeshops charge $7 for a piccolo latte with oat milk. The 3-4oz (~85ml, and usually <100ml) glass holds one part espresso and two parts steamed milk. I'm also horrified when I realized that some cafes serve piccolo latte with ½ a shot of caffeine instead of a single espresso shot. I'm not sure if the cashier is confused or I'm confused.  

Whatever it is, I'm sticking to a 5oz double-shot white. Damn this lousy chain coffeeshops. I think I'm going to skip oat milk altogether. Unless that coffeeshop does it so well, like at Kizuna or Nylon.  

I'm definitely not lactose-intolerant. I can chug a glass of full-cream milk with no issues, or have it with granola. Coffee, taken on its own, black, doesn't give me the runs either. My problem with milk is when it meets coffee. I need a clean toilet within 20 minutes. I don't know if the milk speeds up the colonic activity because of the coffee's chlorogenic acid, or it's just IBS at an older age that makes the digestive system more sensitive. Oat milk seems to resolve the issue though. 

Wait. What is milk? BUT, IS OAT MILK STILL MILK? 

Last month, American Food & Drug Administration (FDA) set out draft labeling recommendations for plant-based milk alternatives (PBMA) to inform consumers of voluntary nutrient statements., and are accepting comments on the draft guidance before it becomes final.

To support consistency across federal nutrition policies, the draft guidance recommends that industry use the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service fluid milk substitutes nutrient criteria to determine if a PBMA is nutritionally similar to milk. Also, the FDA encourages consumers to use the Nutrition Facts label to compare the nutrient content of different products to help make informed choices.

Oat and soy milk are clearly not from cows. Dohhh. Is peanut butter, butter? Are lab-grown meats, meat? The FDA had suggested that soy, oat and almond 'milk' could still be labeled as milk. These types of milk don't pretend to be extracted from animals. I thought that would be quite obvious. Consumers aren't going to mistake these milk as 'dairy' certainly?! 

But yes, it would be nice to have the labels print it nicely for consumers to read. I would like to know what else has been added into the carton/bottle that has been labeled 'milk'. I'm not sure a nutritional label would be that informative though. We all know that that's a marketing gimmick. 

Yasmin Tayag wrote a whole essay on how 'Milk Has Lost All Meaning', published in The Atlantic on March 8, 2023. She puts forth how technology is pushing the boundaries of how foods should be named, or defined. 

But a few weeks ago, the FDA signaled an end to the debate by proposing long-awaited naming recommendations: Plant-based milk, the agency said, could be called “milk” if its plant origin was clearly identified (for example, “pistachio milk”). In addition, labels could clearly state how the product differs nutritionally from regular milk. A package labeled “rice milk” would be acceptable, but it should note when the product has less calcium or vitamin D than milk.

Rather than prompt a détente, these recommendations are sucking milk into an existential crisis. Differentiating plant-based milk and milk requires defining what milk actually is, but doing so is at odds with the acknowledgment that plant-based milk is milk. It is impossible to compare plant-based and cow’s milk if there isn’t a standard nutrient content for cow’s milk, which comes in a range of formulations. This awkward moment is the culmination of a decades-long shift in the way the FDA—and consumers—has come to think about and define food in general. At this point, it’s unclear what milk is anymore.

Now, back to oat milk. Oat milk isn't all that healthy. It is highly processed. Ultra processed even. The same goes for almond milk. Try not to drink it by the glass on a daily basis. These are ultra processed plant based milk alternatives meet NOVA criteria for ultra-processed foods, because they were created from food components and contained multiple substances not used in normal cooking. 

I'm sure that we're aware of all these nutritional information. We make a conscious choice when we choose oat or soy or almond milk, and not because it's got "less fat". I almost died that day at a coffeeshop when I heard a young woman (ahead of me in the queue) ask for almond milk because "it's less fatty than cow milk."

I cringe when I heard people proclaim that drinking 300ml glass of almond or oat milk daily helps with their digestion. It's not going to help with mine lor. It isn't healthier to replace dairy and milk with plant-based milk alternatives. But I guess it works for coffee especially when I don't have oat milk with coffee daily. I don't stock any oat milk at home. I have it in coffee maybe once a week. Although that day I drank a full 200ml because the bowl of granola came with a too-generous amount of oat milk, and after considering my intake of oat milk for the milk, I decided to chug it down. Duhhh.

From The Atlantic's 'Milk Has Lost All Meaning'.