The Food and Drug Administration will consider how it will enforce the definition of “milk” on beverage companies that use that name on products not coming from a cow or another animal but from plants such as almonds or rice, commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Tuesday.

The move, Gottlieb acknowledged, is likely to result in lawsuits against the FDA. The process, which he said would begin “very soon,” would take roughly a year as the FDA collects public comments.