Time to double-check if you unintentionally got milk.
Almond-milk seller HP Hood LLC is recalling roughly 150,000 half-gallon cartons of refrigerated Vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk because the product may contain actual milk, the company said Aug. 2. Affected cartons have a use-by date of Sept. 2, 2018, and were shipped to retailers in 28 US states.
The concern is that the dairy-tainted almond milk could be dangerous to anyone with an actual dairy allergy. So far, only one allergic reaction has been reported, HP Hood said, and no medical treatment was needed. The almond milk is safe to drink for people without a milk allergy or sensitivity, the company said.
Almond milk and other milk alternatives have soared in popularity among Americans in recent years, with sales more than doubling over the last decade. Many people turn to plant-based milk alternatives because they are lactose intolerant, or for ethical reasons (the dairy industry is a significant producer of greenhouse-gas emission). Other people just like them better.
Whatever the reason, America’s interest in milk alternatives has alarmed the dairy industry, which recorded a 17% drop in conventional milk sales in 2016 alone. The government estimates that per capita milk consumption has dropped by as much as 35% since the 1970s.
That’s led dairy companies to sue their plant-based challengers over the very definition of “milk.” “You haven’t ‘got milk’ if it comes from a seed, nut, or bean,” Jim Mulhern, president of the National Milk Producers Federation, said in December 2016.
If you bought one of the recalled Almond Breeze containers, though, you actually might.