The European Dairy Association (EDA) has issued new guidelines calling for products which call for dairy terms for non-dairy products unacceptable under any circumstance.

The guidelines come one year after the European Court of Justice “TofuTown” judgement in which the EU Court ruled that purely plant-based products cannot be marketed with designations such as milk, cream, butter, cheese or yoghurt. EU law reserves these product terms for animal products alone.

The new guidelines intend to address the use and misuse of protected definitions, designations and sales descriptions of milk and milk products within the European single market. The publication’s aim is to serve as a tool to facilitate the enforcement of this at national level.

The EDA has also called for EU member states and the European Commission to find the use of slightly amended dairy terms (which are clearly understood as such by the consumer) unacceptable.

"The EU dairy industry calls for the strict enforcement of the rules in order to preserve all across Europe the protection of dairy terms and their vital importance for the EU dairy sector," the document reads.

The document outlines the legal conclusions of the relevant European Court rulings to draw a clear picture of the objectives and the rules that form the basis for the protection of dairy terms in the EU.

“No label, commercial document, publicity material, any form of advertising or any form of presentation may be used which claims, implies or suggests that the product is a dairy product if it is not milk or a milk product."

To conclude "TofuTown" case, the court ruled that:

“The term 'milk' cannot be lawfully used to designate a purely plant-based product since milk is, within the meaning of that provision, an animal product."

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The European Dairy Association has issued its new Guidelines on the Protection of Dairy Terms after EU law reserves protection of animal products.