The National Dairy Council was recently sanctioned by USDA Agricultural Marketing Service for an their “Wood Milk” advertising campaign. The program was initiated after the February 23rd, 2023 proposal that plant-based milks could be labeled using the generic term “milk”.
The “Wood Milk” campaign violates a prohibition against advertising that is “false or misleading or disparaging to another agricultural commodity”. Since check-off funds were used to pay for the conception,
production and airing of the advertisement, this was a violation of policy and should not have been approved by the AMS, according to the USDA Office of the Inspector General.
The American Egg Board has been careful in its promotional campaigns not to disparage egg substitutes. This is especially the situation since the problems that arose in 2015 when it was disclosed that the Board mounted a campaign against Hampton Creek, a producer of an ersatz egg-free mayonnaise. Revelations based on internal E-mails and documents released under the Freedom of Information Act were embarrassing to the AEB leadership leading to the premature retirement of the then CEO, apologies from the Board and appointment of a USDA lawyer as CEO.