The names and natural composition of milk and milk products, such as cream, cheese and yoghurt, intended for human consumption, are protected by Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (CMO Regulation), which defines what is meant by milk and milk products. The names of milk and milk products may be used where they meet the requirements of the CMO Regulation (1308/2013, Articles 74, 78, Annex VII, Part III and Part IV).
Milk means exclusively the normal mammary secretion obtained from milking without any addition thereto or extraction therefrom. The animal species from which the milk originates must be stated if it is not bovine.
Milk products means the following products derived exclusively from milk. However, substances necessary for their manufacture may be added, provided that they are not used to replace, in whole or in part, any milk constituent with, for example, vegetable fat
- whey
- cream
- butter
- buttermilk
- butteroil
- caseins
- anhydrous milk fat
- cheese
- yoghurt
- kephir
- koumiss
- viili/fil
- smetana
- In respect of products other than these, no label, advertising or presentation may be used which claims, expresses or implies that the product is a dairy product. Therefore, the terms “yoghurt-like”, “cheese-type”, “cheese-like”, etc. are not allowed. The names of products which imitate dairy products must be derived from the materials used in their manufacture and their intended use, for example ... spread/spreadable ...product, or from their form such as ...slice / sliceable ..product.
- By way of derogation, protected names for milk and milk products may be used to describe products whose exact nature is known due to traditional use or where the names are clearly used to describe a product (Commission Decision 2010/791/EU, Commission Regulation (EC) No 445/2007). In Finland, the exceptions related to the use of the name butter ("voi") are: cocoa butter, peanut butter, "voileipäkeksi" (cream cracker) "voitatti" (Suillus luteus) and "voileipäkakku" (savoury sandwich cake). In addition, there is a notable derogation in Swedish for “kokosmjölk”, and "kookosmaito" the Finnish term for “coconut milk” can therefore also be used. Other countries have also been granted derogations for cream, cheese and milk names. Commission Regulation 445/2007 / EC authorises the use of the name “munavoi” (egg butter).
Drinking milk
raw milk: milk which has not been heated above 40ºC or subjected to treatment having equivalent effect;
whole milk: heat-treated milk which, with respect to fat content, meets one of the following requirements:
- standardised whole milk: milk with a fat content of at least 3.50% (m/m). However, Member States may provide for an additional category of whole milk with a fat content of 4.00% (m/m) or above,
- non-standardised whole milk: milk with a fat content that has not been altered since the milking stage either by the addition or removal of milk fats or by mixture with milk the natural fat content of which has been altered. However, the fat content may not be less than 3.50% (m/m);
semi-skimmed milk: heat-treated milk whose fat content has been reduced to at least 1.50% (m/m) and at most 1.80% (m/m);
skimmed-milk: heat-treated milk whose fat content has been reduced to not more than 0.50% (m/m).
Milk with added vitamin D: National Decree (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Decree 754/2016) provides for the addition of vitamin D to homogenised skimmed milk to be placed on the market in Finland.