Consumption of these plant-based beverages has risen rapidly, jumping 9 percent to $1.6 billion in the 12 months through June. In the same period, sales of cow’s milk fell 6 percent, according to data from Nielsen and the Plant Based Foods Association. Milk drinking, meanwhile, is on the decline. In the 1970s, a typical American drank about 30 gallons a year, but now it’s about 18 gallons, according to the Department of Agriculture.

All of this worries the dairy industry.

“You don’t got milk if it comes from a nut or a seed or a grain or a weed,” said Chris Galen, a vice president at the National Milk Producers Federation, which was established in 1916 to advance the well-being of dairy producers. He was repeating one of the dairy industry’s new phrases: “You don’t got milk if.”

His group is pushing for the Dairy Pride Act, introduced in Congress in January 2017, which he said would compel the Food and Drug Administration to enforce its rules around labeling things honestly. The dairy industry argues that the word “milk” confuses consumers because it implies that the white liquid they have bought has a nutritional value similar to cow’s milk.

Michele Simon, executive director of the Plant Based Foods Association, acknowledged that an almond may not lactate but “it doesn’t mean you can’t call it milk.” She said people knew perfectly well when they bought soy milk that it was not the same as animal milk. Alt-milks often do not have the same fat, protein and vitamin content as dairy milk.