The complaint, filed by the Belgian Confederation of the Dairy Industry, was upheld by the court which approved the term ‘plant based alternative to dairy’ but not ‘variation on dairy’ or ‘plant based variation on dairy.’

This is not the first time Alpro has fallen foul of EU and Belgian legislation. In 2012, the Dutch Dairy Association took a successful case against them for using misleading terms to market its ‘mild and creamy’ range.

In 2007 the EU ruled; ‘Dairy analogues or products that are not purely dairy may not be labelled, advertised or presented using protected terms reserved for milk and milk products. In addition, there should be no direct or indirect suggestion of dairy connection by ‘non pure’ or imitation products’

According to a Mintel report in 2014, UK sales of cow milk alternatives such as soy, rice and buffalo milk shot up by 150% between 2011 and 2013.