In an effort to get more children to drink processed milk, the conventional dairy industry is pushing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change the very definition of milk to allow for the discreet addition of toxic artificial sweeteners like aspartame. According to a petition filed in the Federal Register earlier this year, the dairy industry's goal is to change the "standard of identity" for milk so that it can be further modified and sweetened to attract more young consumers.
Whether it is due to increasing allergies or a simple distaste for its processed flavor, conventional milk sales have dropped some 25 percent in the U.S. since 1975, and consumption patterns are continuing to dwindle all across the country. So the National Milk Producers Federation and the International Dairy Foods Association are petitioning to simply redefine the word "milk" to include other things like artificially flavored and sweetened chocolate and strawberry milk beverages.