It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since scientist videographer Nick Saik put out his viral Nut Milking Exposed video. In it, Saik satirized the concept of “milking” almonds to produce plant-based dairy alternatives. The original video, distributed via his Know Ideas Media channel, was presented in a documentary-style format, packed with an abundance of faux sincerity and tenderness. It has had more than 2 million YouTube views, 40 million views on 9GAG‘s Facebook page, and 750,000 views on Know Ideas Media’s Facebook page.
So, it’s with no small amount of excitement that Saik has released a sequel to that video titled, Nut Milking 2 — Milk Your Nuts Or They’ll Milk You.
While the original video “interviewed” Howard Nutkik of Creamy Valley Nut Milkery to learn what the process was all about, Nut Milking 2 features AGvisorPRO talking with the farmer to explore how he was able to scale up his organic, grass-fed nuts operation, keep up with demand, and improve the efficiency of processes on the farm (with the help of the AGvisorPRO app, of course).
The video shows the storage facilities for almonds, cashews, and other nuts, the research and development lab where the “high-density, self-contained nut-milkeries” are created, and the management of the large scale of almonds, done in a way to reduce … ahem … chafing.
And though this video is satire, like the original video, it steers toward some serious issues that have embattled many of those in agriculture as it relates to product labeling. For products that end up in the milk aisle at the grocery store, the conflict can be especially heated.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a codified definition of milk as “the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows.”
However, all one has to do is look at the soy-, almond-, cashew-, oat-, and macadamia-based alternatives that use “milk” in their branding to see why dairy farmers don’t want to water down people’s perception of what constitutes real milk.
Proper definitions in food marketing are important, which is why many agree that the FDA should crack down on non-animal “milks.” Others, however, think this is a waste of resources because shoppers will always think of almond milk as milk, regardless of the rules.
