WASHINGTON – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is reopening the comment period for its draft guidance regarding recommended voluntary nutrient statements for plant-based milk alternatives.

“Labeling of Plant-Based Milk Alternatives and Voluntary Nutrient Statements; Draft Guidance for Industry” first appeared in the Federal Register on Feb. 23. The FDA said it opted to reopen the comment period in response to “requests from stakeholders to allow additional time for interested persons to develop and submit comments.”

The FDA stated the new deadline for comments will be determined when the reopening notice publishes. Comments can be submitted to Regulations.gov and identified with the docket number FDA-2023-D-0451. 

When first recommending voluntary nutrient statements in February, the FDA said the statement should convey how the alternative compares to milk based on fluid milk substitutes nutrient criteria from the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. 

The voluntary nutrient statement does not apply if a plant-based milk alternative is not labeled with milk as part of its name and instead labeled with another term like beverage or drink or if the alternative does not have a claim comparing it to milk.