I read today that the Food and Drug Administration and the milk industry have banned using the term “milk” for coconut milk, “because by definition it (milk) comes from animals that lactate.” However, the other uses are in the dictionary also. I wonder if they are going to challenge the use of “milkweed.” No one mistakes cow’s milk for milk from coconuts. Many persons are lactose intolerant, and can only use the liquid from other sources. The milk industry is not harmed by the presence of other “milks” on the market.

This action, where the federal government is strongly influenced by lawyers for industry, is like the sugar industry demanding that “jam is defined as 50 percent sugar.

Anything less that 50 percent is not jam. Trying to eat healthily is against the profit bottom line.

Larry Gilbert, Jr.

Westbrook