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Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to market plant-based products in UK

⁨110⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Veserr@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨unitedkingdom@feddit.uk⁩

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/11/oatly-banned-from-using-word-milk-to-market-plant-based-products-in-uk

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Comments

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  • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    The dairy industry is losing market share at an accelerated rate. I’m sure this will fix it.

    So stupid.

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    • Strawberry@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      yeah, it feels kinda petty on behalf of the dairy people tbh

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  • jaennaet@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Uh oh, better ban the term “coconut milk” too

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    • starman2112@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Peanut butter too. Someone could get confused!

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      • jaennaet@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        And butterflies obviously need to be renamed to nondairyflies

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    • Ephera@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Here in the Ger of Many, you can buy scouring agents which are branded as “scouring milk” (Scheuermilch), but oat milk is where we draw the line, apparently.

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  • flamingos@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    On Wednesday the supreme court unanimously ruled that Oatly can no longer trademark, or use, the slogan “Post Milk Generation”.

    This is even dumber when you realise Oatly is explicitly prompting themselves as not-milk.

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    • Nighed@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      That doesn’t stop them from calling the product “oat milk” though does it?

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      • flamingos@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        You haven’t been able to do that since 2017, the European Court of Justice said so.

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  • wewbull@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    I’m all for clear labelling on food. I think it’s important. I don’t see the need to stop them using “milk” in any form. As long as it’s part of hyphenate “oat-milk” there shouldn’t be an issue.

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  • davidagain@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Braindead ruling. Not as braindead as “the equality act was not intended to protect trans people” which is about as stupid and fucked up as it gets, but still really pretty braindead.

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  • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Yet we can still buy “Milk of Magnesia” for poorly tummies.

    magnesium hydroxide (wiki link)

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    • austinfloyd@ttrpg.network ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      The thing I find funniest about that is that milk of magnesia is rather new to the English language (1880 according to the Oxford English dictionary). Meanwhile terms like almond milk that are “too confusing” have been in the English language since Middle English.

      Fucking lobbyists…

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  • Paragone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    utterly-bullshit snowflakes…

    Grow a pair!!

    EVERYBODY KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE!

    Idiocy.

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    • DakRalter@thelemmy.club ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Exactly, it’s still perfectly fine to sell tinned coconut milk, no one thinks it’s from udders.

      Since the ruling is that only mammary secretions can be called milk, let’s insist that dairy is labelled “mammy secretions”, just so no one mistakes it as coming from coconuts.

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  • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    What about Man Milk? Can I keep calling it Man Milk?

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    • mjr@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Only if it stays the hell away from my coffee! 🤮

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      • jaennaet@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Amateur

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    • davidagain@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Not if you’re selling it in shops.

      I think you’re in the clear if you’re just giving it away to people you like.

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  • rmuk@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Eh, I agree. I’ll still call it “oat milk” but I don’t think they should be allowed to call it “milk” in any form. I get they have quirky marketing and, IMHO, a great product, but allowing a corporation to use a work like that laissez-faire is pretty dangerous: oat milk isn’t naturally occuring and their product has lots of extra stuff added in (sweeteners, fortifiers, etc), neither of which should be true for a productive called “milk”.

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    • wpb@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      but I don’t think companies should be allowed to sell it as “milk” in any form

      Well sure, and they haven’t been able to in almost a decade. This court ruling is about something else.

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    • blackn1ght@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      What about coconut milk?

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      • rmuk@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Natural and unadulterated. So, yeah.

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    • tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Have the courts come to an actual definition of what (animal) milk actually is? Last I read, neither EU or UK could define it. Milk’s content differs so much from brand to brand and there’s no set standard. Presumably other than it comes from an animal of some kind.

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      • rmuk@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        …defines “Milk” as meaning exclusively the normal mammary secretion obtained from one or more milkings without either addition thereto or extraction therefrom.

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    • Gold_E_Lox@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      yes! we shall stop the capitalists by monitoring their language! this time we’ll get em!

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  • MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Malicious compliance time. Use “malk” instead and annoy them into reverting the ruling.

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  • sirico@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Cool I don’t eat or drink words. Enjoy the lack of milk in my house dairy industry.

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