Milk is a staple item in many parts of the world. It is considered to be nutritious, filling and also a vital part of healthy child growth. Marketing, school lunches and subsidies have aided the milk industry massively in the last century. Prior to that, milk was not as heavily consumed. In order to arrive to that point, milk had to break barriers first. However, these barriers themselves have begun to emerge again, as a new age has succumbed onto the industry. The rise of plant-based dairy alternatives (PBA) and their eminent overthrowing of milk has consumers perplexed about the white superfood.
History, Perception and Technology
Technology
Tracing back the drinking pattern of cow’s milk, it becomes clear that it was heavily popular amongst rural areas where cows were readily available (UCL 2009). The consensus in pre-industrial times was that cow’s milk was drunk fresh and warm from a cow (Nimmo 2010). This signified in some aspect the naturality and unfiltered taste of the substance itself. Additionally, cow’s milk is a perishable item and as such has a short shelf-life. This meant that transportation to faraway places risked the milk going bad, in addition to the lack of sanitary measures that were involved in the production of the substance itself.
However, the rise of industrialisation in the 19th century shifted the paradigm of milk consumption. Not only did milk leave the farms, its form and its presentation also changed as well. The emergence of refrigeration, railway systems, milking pumps and various forms of propaganda techniques, were underlying reasons that managed to not only drive the demand for milk, but also change preconceived notions about milk as well.
The invention of the railway system allowed milk to be transported from farms to cities in a fraction of the time it took previously on horse-led carriages. This allowed city-dwellers to consume milk as well. Additionally, the rise of refrigerators in the 19th century also proved helpful to milk producers, as they were able to transport their products in train carts that were installed with fridges, which are known as milk trains (Nimmo 2011). Not only did this allow milk to maintain its condition, but it also changed the perception of milk. As previously stated, milk used to be drunk warm, fresh from the cow, but with the advent of refrigeration, milk turned into a cold substance—one that needs to remain so in order to maintain its purity.
Moreover, the process in which milk was being produced had also changed. The manual extraction of milk began to diminish as the market size of the substance and the increased demand required higher levels of production. ‘Mechanical calves’ (Nimmo 2017) were patterned in order to emulate the milking process at a much higher rate than humanly possible. This entailed a technological shift within the industry in order to accommodate the rising demand.
Social Imaginary
However, the final shift occurred on a social level. It is true that the previously mentioned effects played a big role in allowing milk to become part of people’s everyday lives, but that was not enough. A social shift had to happen that would convince people that milk was necessary for them. After World War 2, there was an overabundance of milk, and as such, producers, lobbyist groups and politicians alike had to come up with a means to integrate milk as part of people’s diets. Thus, milk organisations such as the Milk Marketing Board were formed in order to create an awareness surrounding the vitality of milk (Nimmo 2010). Studies held on children showed that milk is a necessary part of a child’s development, their vital health and even success in life as well (Valenze 2012). Additionally, milk became a staple product in school lunches as well, which were funded by the government and backed by scientific studies (Velten 2010).
Additionally, the perception that milk was for babies had to be altered as well. Prior to the industrial age, milk was strictly for infants. However, the increase of milk propagandas after WW2 allowed for the social perception to change. Milk campaigns targeting adults began to flourish, and business ventures such as milk bars were popular in train stations (Nimmo 2010). The consumption of the substance not only became vital for child growth, but also became an essential part of people’s everyday lives. People could no longer live without milk.
For the last fifty years, milk has had a dominant effect on the lives of many people around the world. However, in today’s western world, the demand for milk is decreasing annually. This decrease in demand can be explained by many variables, but in this blog entry, the focus will be on the rise of PBAs.
Milk from Plants?
In a Nutshell
PBAs are not new and have been around for a fair bit of time now. PBAs can be derived from different sources such as grains, legumes, nuts, seeds… Horchata for instance, a beverage that is originally from North Africa before the year 1000, is made out of tiger nuts (Almedia and Cho 2012). A recipe in Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi’s The Book of Dishes, which was written in 1226, incorporates the use of almond milk. Soy milk has been used in China since the 14th century and coconut milk is a very popular staple ingredient that is incorporated in many curry dishes across Southern Asia.
In today’s world, the demand for PBAs has seen a tremendous rise. Currently, the global market for PBAs is estimated at $16 billion (Grand View Research 2019), and the demand does not seem to be slowing down. Currently, almond, soy and coconut-based milks are said to be the highest-selling plant milks worldwide (Wallis 2019). This can be boiled down to nutritional value, taste, ecological sustainability and other factors that drive the demand for PBAs.
Recently, the dairy industry has a had a rough few years due to farm closure and lower prices. In the UK for instance, 1,000 dairy farms have closed between 2013 and 2016 (Wallis 2019). Although 95.8% of UK household still purchase liquid milk, milk consumption per capita has fallen by 50% since 1974 (AHDB 2020). The notion of health and necessity that used to surround milk are no longer paying dividends. Consumers have become more aware about their nutritional requirements, and many have resorted to PBAs for that. Although many PBA alternatives require fortification to match milk’s nutritional value, the incurring benefits of switching to a PBA are multifold.
Health Freaks
Currently, it is estimated that 68% of the world has some form of lactose intolerance, and although these figures are less in Europe, it still provides a stark image of the inability to break down the enzyme lactase in adults (NIDDK 2018). Additionally, some individuals could be allergic to the proteins found in milk, mainly whey, which can pose serious health risks onto individuals. On top of that, studies indicate that milk can lead to osteoporosis (Ferrari et al. 2011) prostate cancer (Shin et al. 2019) and breast cancer (Fraser et al. 2020).
In a survey conducted by The Plant-based Poll, which took the opinions of 1,020 UK consumers in April 2019, offered the following results: ‘23% of consumers surveyed, health and wellness is the primary motivation for purchasing a plant-based milk in a coffee shop – ahead of those purchasing because of intolerances or allergies (22%) and dietary preference (15%)’. According to this data, PBAs provide a stable source of nutrition for those that cannot properly digest milk but also for those that are looking for healthier alternatives.
Tree Huggers
Furthermore, there have been recent trends concerning the overall environmental impact that is related to dairy production. The dairy industry is responsible for 18% of all global GHG emissions. This excludes the exorbitant amounts of water, land and resources that is required to grow and maintain adult milking cows. In an industry that is worth more than $718 billion, and that has over 260 million cows at any given moment, the environmental waste that is produced in order to maintain the industry is a cause of concern for people, biodiversity and the health of the ecosystem and the planet. Because of this, some people might find it beneficial to substitute their dairy intake with a PBA because they require a lot less resources to produce than their dairy counterparts.
Animal Lovers
Finally, in the aforementioned survey, 11% of the consumers cited animal welfare concerns as a reason to switch over to PBAs. Documentaries have emerged exposing the animal industry, and many people have been taken aback by the atrocities shown in these documentaries. According to The Vegan Society, there are currently over 600,000 vegans in the UK, and the numbers seem to be ever-so growing. As the current Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the relationship that consumers have with food, animal welfare concerns could become a heated topic of debate in the upcoming years, as more people become vigilant about the footprint that their consumer choices have on themselves, the animals and the planet alike.
To Conclude:
I personally believe that milk is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Comparing the nutritional value of milk and plant-based alternatives across the board can be a misleading factor in terms of determining the best suitability. However, the variety that the plant-based industry offers is unparalleled to what dairy can offer. As such, the shift will be gradual and apparent. More people will start replacing dairy with PBAs whether that is because of health, ethical or environmental reasons, the trend is upwards from here on out.
*Originally posted as a blog article for my MSc course*