The WhiteWave Foods Co (WWAV) Says You’re Ready for Diet Milk

WhiteWave probably could produce a zero-calorie milk beverage, but the FDA only allows “nutritive sweeteners,” or those things that contain calories, to be added and still be called milk, so it would likely not be able to call it that or it would have to say it’s artificially sweetened. While the patent application does note the addition of nutritive sweeteners, the additional ingredients might change the label, and it’s probably one of the reasons WhiteWave’s CEO has lamented the inhibiting effects regulation has on innovation.

But WhiteWave also had to settle a lawsuit recently over its use of the misnomer “evaporated cane juice” instead of what everyone else knows it as: sugar. The FDA has some specific language on the use of ECJ, but a number of companies, from Kellogg to Trader Joe’s, have run afoul of the regulation and been sued because of it. Kefir maker Lifeway also includes ECJ in its dairy products’ ingredient list, but so far seems to have escaped notice by the trial lawyers.

I love me a tall, cold glass of milk, whether it’s whole, 2%, or even skim, but I can already feel my throat constricting when I think of drinking milk-water, no matter what kind of additives it has in it. I think WhiteWave would have a hard time trying to milk this beverage for sales.

The article WhiteWave Says You’re Ready for Diet Milk originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rich Duprey.

Fool contributor Rich Duprey owns shares of Dean Foods and WhiteWave Foods. The Motley Fool owns shares of Dean Foods Company and WhiteWave Foods. 

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