(NAFB.com) – Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) led a bipartisan group of colleagues in calling on the administration to protect America’s dairy industry. They want to ensure that plant-based imitation products are not equated in upcoming dietary guideline changes. The officials are asking the Department of Health and Human Services and USDA to carefully consider any changes to the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans that could add plant-based imitation products into the dairy category despite their nutritional differences. In a letter, the senators say existing research has shown that plant-based alternatives are indeed not nutritionally equivalent to dairy. Their concerns are that adding imitation products to the dairy category equates the products nutritionally, despite imitations often containing lower protein and added sugars. “As you consider potential DGA updates that may pertain to dairy, please ensure sound scientific evidence to support any statements which nutritionally equate plant-based alternatives with real dairy,” the letter also says.