Your recent article on “barley milk” caught my attention, mainly because of the controversy of a liquid made using various grains being labeled “milk” by their producers.

Milk has two definitions. It is a liquid produced from mammary glands by mammals. The second definition is to defraud in order to take small amounts of money. I am pretty sure I know which definition vegetable or grain “milk” falls under.

What really caught my attention was the number of times the writer used the term milk to describe what appears to be water flavored with barley and added calcium and vitamin D3. I am surprised the Capital Press had so little regard for the interest of the dairy industry. If folks want to drink these drinks made from vegetables or grains and other added chemicals, more power to them. Those drinks are NOT milk.

Some say milk is bad for our health but are perfectly willing to trade on the good name of milk. If this occurred in most other areas of retail sales, there would be an immediate lawsuit and judgment against such an infringement.

Just for the record, I am a former dairyman and currently raise barley. Barley makes good beer and other adult beverages, other food products, and an excellent animal food. But it does not make milk!

David Fenn

Curtis, Wash.