Recently, Melt, a vegetable oil spread, seems to have changed its packaging perhaps in an effort to boost sales. Best we can tell, this was the old package:
The new packaging is dramatically different, and no longer emphasizes the product name, Melt, but rather shouts one other thing — butter. It even seems to call the product “butter” or “butter sticks.”
Only in much smaller type beneath the big butter representation are the words “Made from Plants.”
Our concern is that a hurried or distracted shopper could easily pick up this product, seeing the huge word “butter” on it, and think that’s what they were buying.
“Butter” is not a generic term that can simply be applied to any kind of spread. There is a 99-year-old federal law — a standard of identity — for butter.
“butter†shall be understood to mean the food product usually known as butter, and which is made exclusively from milk or cream, or both, with or without common salt, and with or without additional coloring matter, and containing not less than 80 per centum by weight of milk fat…
So butter has to be made only from milk or cream and contain at least 80% milk fat.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Melt is made from a combination of coconut, palm fruit, sunflower and flaxseed oils, and is only 62% fat.
The FDA has jurisdiction over butter labeling, and over the misbranding of food products if they have a label with a “false or misleading representation with respect to another food.” Apparently, however, the agency has not been particularly motivated to take action against companies that arguably try to mislead customers into thinking their spread is real butter.
The outgoing executive director of the The Butter Institute told Consumer World that “it is fairly obvious that marketers of these products are looking to hitchhike on the highly regarded taste and performance of real butter and its popularity with consumers. …the improper labeling of food products claiming to be butter, but not meeting the standard could be in violation of not only federal labeling regulations, but also an act of Congress.” That organization says it is not aware of any regulatory action taken by the FDA as a result of its complaints.
The state of California tried to stop another company from using the term “butter” on its package for a vegan spread, but did not succeed in its lawsuit.
We asked the company that makes Melt some very pointed questions about why they changed their packaging, why it made the word “butter” the most prominent word on the display panel, and whether it was an attempt to potentially mislead shoppers.
The company has not responded despite two inquiries.
If you can call non-dairy products “milk” why not also be able to call them “butter”? In a world of alternate facts it only makes sense that companies would feel entitled to call their products whatever they want. If it confuses the consumer that’s a plus.
Bingo!
Redefining words, as of late, seems to be proliferating at warp speed.
The lack of oversight by our government is why these companies are getting away with these forgeries. It is a shame with all the tax dollars theses government agencies receive we don’t get the service we deserve.
George Orwell would call this “Newspeak.”
Or Doublespeak.
What about nut butter? It has been around for years Does anybody complain about that?
Yes, I do. I also complain peanuts are not actually nuts.
Packaging oversight is in a really sad state and I think a lot of it when downhill when we tangentially accepted almond juice calling itself almond milk.
This issue is much more stringently followed when it comes to ice cream where you see a lot of things packaged as frozen dairy dessert and other names similar to that. Even a lot of sliced cheese have to call themselves “cheese product” because it doesn’t meet the definition of cheese, but somehow a product that contains no dairy can all itself butter.
I am now in colflict with myself. I’m ok with peanut butter. Mainly because it has been around since forever and it’s not displayed in the dairy case.
This stuff is dead wrong and should be made to change it’s name to “spread”. I also disagree with almond and oat milk being called milk. There are other names they can use. Like beverage or drink.
Disclosure – I have been a vegetarian fro over 30 years.
The length of time has nothing to do with the use of the word “butter” as in peanut butter, almond butter, etc. Peanut Butter has been around since 1895; I dare say butter from cows has been around for centuries. This is a question of losing market share.
Location also has no bearing on the issue. Butter is contained in the dairy case yet how is it acceptable that peanut butter uses the word “butter” because it is not in the dairy case?
And, finally, if labeling is the issue, I remember the days from our grocery store when all that had to be on a label describing ingredients was the lineup of the amount of the ingredient – the ingredient that came first was the largest in content. That’s all we got.
Customers have eyes – if they don’t care to glance at labels, that is on them.
I eat vegan as well. I think Melt’s packaging is designed to be deceptive. Earth Balance uses the term “buttery spread”. I think that’s more honest.
Then I have a Country Crock labeled “Plant Butter”. It’s all in the same font and that’s fine to me.
So, I think it’s not so much use of the word “butter”, but the design to hide the plant-based nature of the product from shoppers who aren’t specifically looking for plant-based options. Some props are deserved by the designer who managed to design packaging that will trick regular shoppers into thinking it is butter, while still allowing vegans to identify that it’s non-dairy.
I disagree. The new packaging has on the front “made from plants.” If consumers can’t read that, then they need to go back to school.
If non-dairy items cannot be defined as butter, then many other food items also need to stop – peanut butter, almond butter, etc. Read the description provided of butter – those items certainly aren’t made from dairy ingredients. I don’t hear the dairy industry complaining about those choices.
“butter†shall be understood to mean the food product usually known as butter, and which is made exclusively from milk or cream, or both, with or without common salt, and with or without additional coloring matter, and containing not less than 80 per centum by weight of milk fat…
This is simply a level of hypocrisy by the dairy industry.
So what’s the difference between this and things like “peanut butter” and “apple butter” etc?
The difference is intent. Those products are in no way trying to pass themselves off as dairy butter. Whereas it seems to me that this product is clearly trying to confuse the consumer.
Since margarine is made from vegetable oil which of course are derived from “plants”, why couldn’t the makers of melt label their product as margarine?
Frankie… Under federal law, “margarine” has to be 80% fat content, and Melt is only 62%.
“Only in much smaller type beneath the big butter representation are the words “Made from Plants.â€
I wouldn’t exactly say much smaller but it is in a bolded, dark type right below the word ‘butter’! To me, the ‘made from plants’ stands out way more than the word ‘butter’.
“The first person to make peanut butter popular was John Harvey Kellogg. He was a vegetarian, and in the early 1890s, he invented a way to crush nuts between two rollers to make nut butters as a substitute for cow’s butter and cream.”
Thus, his intent was to replace dairy butter. The federal definition of butter was put in place in 1906. Apparently a definition of “butter” wasn’t an issue before dairy interests gained influence. The Oleo Margarine Act of 1883 was put in place to protect dairy interests.
This issue revolves around market share and profit. Plant-based products are cutting into dairy profits.