MILK, the inaugural issue of Feminist Food Journal, a new quarterly online magazine focused on the intersections of food systems and feminism, explores feminist perspectives on the contested liquid. Through diverse global perspectives, it considers what a feminist milk paradigm could look like and contemplates how we could get there.

US-based startup BIOMILQ says it has produced the world’s first milk made from lab-cultured human mammary cells. The product, made by culturing human mammary cells in the laboratory, has a similar composition of “proteins, complex carbohydrates, fatty acids and other bioactive lipids” to breast milk. BIOMILQ stresses that its product is not identical to breastmilk, the composition of which can be influenced by hormones, baby behaviour, skin contact and so on. Furthermore, it does not contain the antibodies that breast milk does.

This paper from the Oxford Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) programme examines the narratives that have - at different times and places - surrounded three scenarios about the future of milk and dairy: “more milk”, “better milk” and “less milk”. 

This feature in the UK’s Guardian newspaper examines the environmental implications of China’s promotion of milk consumption. Dairy consumption in China has grown from very little to around 30 kg per year within the last few decades, and government guidelines recommend that people triple their current dairy consumption.

Startup Perfect Day, which grows milk proteins in yeast cells instead of cows, has raised $24.7 million dollars in funding and is now talking to major food brands.

A new technique has been devised to verify whether the cows producing ‘organic’ milk have actually spent the required 120 days a year grazing outdoors.

An ad used by Arla Foods to promote their organic milk has been banned as it used the "misleading" claim that its production is "good for the land". 

As Asda becomes the first UK retailer to sell ‘free range’ milk, the Pasture Promise logo will be placed on the milk packages, to ensure consumers that the cows grazed for 180 days and nights and farmers were offered fair price.

This short article runs through consumption data on meat and dairy products in China in urban and rural areas in 1990, 2002 and 2012. It uses data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China and the National Nutrition Survey.