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Whether such a product would ever become available in Canada, and how it would be labelled and marketed, is a “highly politically charged” question, given the regulatory environment and supply management in the dairy industry, said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the agri-food analytics lab at Dalhousie University.

Desserts made by Perfect Day, or any other lab-grown dairy company, would likely look much different if they ever came to Canada. The company uses the term “non-animal whey protein” in its ingredient list. According to Canadian food regulations, whey is a milk product, and milk is the “normal lacteal secretion, free from colostrum, obtained from the mammary gland of an animal.” In Canada, you can’t milk yeast — not yet, anyway.

If they call it something other than milk or dairy or ice cream how will they communicate what it is? Good luck with that

The Perfect Day slogan, given pride of place on its packaging, is “Dairy Made Perfect,” another no-no. Our labelling regulations say “Dairy products are foods produced from the milk of mammals.”

The Dairy Farmers of Canada did not respond to request for comment. Perfect Day also did not respond to emails, and so was not able to provide a statement about any potential plans to expand to Canada or internationally.

However, recent history shows that dairy marketing boards will kick up a legal fuss against “anybody who uses the word dairy or milk, if milk or dairy products are not used. Dairy farmers will think it is misleading consumers, and the law will give them a case,” Charlebois said. For example, this year, following up on a growing number of complaints, the Canadian Food Inspection Agencyordered producers of vegan cheese alternatives to stop using the word cheese or even “cheeze.”