UWA Science Communication

Ever thought about pouring “mammalian secretions” into your morning coffee? ☕️🥛

While that is the scientific definition of milk, a major legal battle in the UK has highlighted why the words we use for food are about more than just technical accuracy. ⚖️ 🐄

The UK Supreme Court recently blocked Oatly™ from trademarking the phrase “Post Milk Generation,” upholding strict regulations that reserve the term “milk” exclusively for dairy. In the EU and UK, plant-based alternatives must be labelled as a “drink” or “beverage.”

In contrast, regulators in Australia and New Zealand have followed a more flexible path, permitting terms like “soy milk” because the context provides enough clarity for shoppers.

In a recent interview on JOY 94.9, Dr Heather Bray discussed how “milk” is defined by more than just its biological origin. While the UK ruling focuses on technical “truth in labelling”, consumers treat the word as a functional term. It tells us how to use a product, whether it’s destined for a cereal bowl or a latte. 🥣✨

Research in Australia and New Zealand suggests that consumers are quite savvy and rarely confused by labelling, which highlights that our purchase choices are actually based on specific tastes, health needs, and personal values. 🌱

Ultimately, effective communication isn’t about forcing jargon onto shoppers. Language evolves alongside how communities interact with their food. Whether you call it a “plant-derived beverage” or “milk”, the label on the carton is doing a lot of heavy lifting in shaping how we understand our world. 🌏

📖 Read Heather’s full article here: https://theconversation.com/how-australia-and-nz-rules-on-plant-milks-differ-from-overseas-where-cows-make-the-only-milk-275923
🎙️ Listen to her radio interview on JOY Drive here: https://joy.org.au/joydrive/2026/03/26/dr-heather-bray-oat-milk-labelling-laws-and-the-fight-over-the-word-milk/

UWA School of Biological Sciences

How Australia and NZ rules on plant milks differ from overseas, where cows make the only ‘milk’ Australian and NZ farmers have long argued only cow’s milk should be sold as ‘milk’, in line with UK and European laws. This is what our current rules allow.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us last Wednesday for our SciComm Networking sundowner!

As part of the Australian Science Communicators (ASC)'s "Everyone Everywhere All At Once" series, it was inspiring to see our local WA SCOMmunity come together. We hope you enjoyed the chats and connections as much as we did!

✨Make sure you’re following Australian Science Communicators - WA Branch and The SciComm Collective so you don’t miss our future catch-ups. See you at the next one!

UWA School of Biological Sciences

💥💥‘Explosions are always entertaining but…’: investigating the impacts of science shows on high school students💥💥

‼️🎉Congratulations to UWA SciComm graduate and Manager of Audience Research at Scitech, Shanii Phillips, on the publication of this fantastic paper alongside the wonderful Miriam Sullivan and Ann Grand!

This research is *free to read* online at https://doi.org/10.14324/RFA.09.1.03

What do high school students really think about Scitech shows? Which are their favourites and why? What does this all have to do with science self-confidence? Read the paper to find out!

Australian Science Communicators - WA Branch UWA School of Biological Sciences Scitech

‘Explosions are always entertaining but…’: investigating the impacts of science shows on high school students Science shows are often posited as a route to encourage young people to engage with science. Using a mixed methods approach, our research investigated the impact of attending a science show on high school students’ intentions to study science or pursue a career in science. We found that while a si...

📣Did you hear the latest episode of , wrapping up Season One?

We spoke to Adjunct Senior Lecturer Ann Grand about the difference (or not) between “Engaged Research” and Science Communication, how to connect with your audience, the benefit of a science café, and teaching SciComm from UWA to the much colder UK 🌬️📚☕️🧬🌏

Thanks for sharing your career insights, Ann!

The SciComm Collective podcast will be back in full next Semester, but look out for some chilled content still to come over the summer ☀️

UWA School of Biological Sciences UWA Students UWE Bristol Australian Science Communicators (ASC) Australian Science Communicators - WA Branch

SciComm Careers with Dr Ann Grand The SciComm Collective · Episode