ChatterBank5 mins ago
Milk labelling in UK and USA
12 Answers
Can anyone settle a minor argument - as a British person I am used to calling milk skimmed, semi skimmed and whole milk, however my US friend is used to calling them 0%, 2% and 4% fat. He says that UK people are familiar with these percentage terms and I say that I never buy or think of milk in those terms ... is it just me being dim ?????
Answers
1 to 12 of 12
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by lady_p_gold. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
I lie in britain and am familiar with those terms. When you use the Internet for recipes - you hear american terms and they do talk about it like that.
UK people are not familiar with those terms - those terms only exist in America and the only reason I know about it is from trying to work out recipes.
the same is true for flour - they talk about all purpose flour and can't remember if that's plain or self-raising but think it's plain here
UK people are not familiar with those terms - those terms only exist in America and the only reason I know about it is from trying to work out recipes.
the same is true for flour - they talk about all purpose flour and can't remember if that's plain or self-raising but think it's plain here
I foud this on wikipaedia and it is well comlicated stateside - it goes 4%, 2%, 1%, 0.5% & 0% - there's no way anyone here could wok it out but I had heard it mentioned before but can't work out but from what I've looked at i think 4% is whole milk, 1% is semi-skimmed and 0% is skimmed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk
-- answer removed --
Okay, I had to answer this since I am an American and can help you out. Sorry it's funny to see you guys figure out what our "labels" are b/c we have the same issues over here.
okay here it is
0% is our skim milk
then we have 1% 2% and whole milk which is with all the fat. I don't know where your friend got 4% milk b/c we don't call it that nor is it labled that way.
For the person who was talking about flour, plain flour is our all purpose, meaning we can use it for anything, we don't just use it to bake over here, we use it in crafts and such as well. self rising is flour that has yeast and whatnot in it to cut a few steps out for those who are not that well at baking. If you have any more questions let me know.
Its funny I was just looking online for the history/origin of the sandwhich that we have called Sloppy Joes. and I looked at the food thing and saw the question.
okay here it is
0% is our skim milk
then we have 1% 2% and whole milk which is with all the fat. I don't know where your friend got 4% milk b/c we don't call it that nor is it labled that way.
For the person who was talking about flour, plain flour is our all purpose, meaning we can use it for anything, we don't just use it to bake over here, we use it in crafts and such as well. self rising is flour that has yeast and whatnot in it to cut a few steps out for those who are not that well at baking. If you have any more questions let me know.
Its funny I was just looking online for the history/origin of the sandwhich that we have called Sloppy Joes. and I looked at the food thing and saw the question.
Cow's milk is generally available in several varieties. In some countries these are:
* Full cream (or "whole" in US, "homo milk" in Canada & some US dairies, about 3.25% fat)
* Semi-skimmed ("reduced fat" or "low fat", about 1.5-1.8% fat)
* Skimmed (about 0.1% fat)
Milk in the U.S. and Canada is sold as:
* Whole varieties
* 2% (reduced fat)
* 1% (low fat)
* <0.5% (very low fat)
* Skim (nearly no fat)
In Canada "whole" milk refers to creamline (unhomogenized) milk. "Homogenized" milk refers to milk which is 3.25% butterfat. Generally all store-bought milk in Canada has been homogenized. Yet, the term is also used as a name to describe butterfat content for a specific variety of milk. Modern commercial dairy processing techniques involve first removing all of the butterfat, and then adding back the appropriate amount depending on which product is being produced on that particular line.
In Britain, it is possible to get Channel Island milk, which is 5.5% fat.
In the United States, skim milk is also known as "fat free" milk, due to USDA regulations stating that any food with less than �� gram of fat per serving can be labeled "fat free".
Full cream, or whole milk, has the full milk fat content (about 3-4% if Friesian- or Holstein-breed are the source). For skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, all of the fat content is removed and then some (in the case of semi-skimmed milk) is returned. The best-selling variety of milk is semi-skimmed; in some countries full-cream (whole) milk is generally seen as less healthy and skimmed milk is often thought to lack taste. Whole milk is recommended to provide sufficient fat for developing toddlers who have graduated from breast milk or infant formula.
In the United States and Canada, a blended mixture of half cream and half milk is often sold in
* Full cream (or "whole" in US, "homo milk" in Canada & some US dairies, about 3.25% fat)
* Semi-skimmed ("reduced fat" or "low fat", about 1.5-1.8% fat)
* Skimmed (about 0.1% fat)
Milk in the U.S. and Canada is sold as:
* Whole varieties
* 2% (reduced fat)
* 1% (low fat)
* <0.5% (very low fat)
* Skim (nearly no fat)
In Canada "whole" milk refers to creamline (unhomogenized) milk. "Homogenized" milk refers to milk which is 3.25% butterfat. Generally all store-bought milk in Canada has been homogenized. Yet, the term is also used as a name to describe butterfat content for a specific variety of milk. Modern commercial dairy processing techniques involve first removing all of the butterfat, and then adding back the appropriate amount depending on which product is being produced on that particular line.
In Britain, it is possible to get Channel Island milk, which is 5.5% fat.
In the United States, skim milk is also known as "fat free" milk, due to USDA regulations stating that any food with less than �� gram of fat per serving can be labeled "fat free".
Full cream, or whole milk, has the full milk fat content (about 3-4% if Friesian- or Holstein-breed are the source). For skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, all of the fat content is removed and then some (in the case of semi-skimmed milk) is returned. The best-selling variety of milk is semi-skimmed; in some countries full-cream (whole) milk is generally seen as less healthy and skimmed milk is often thought to lack taste. Whole milk is recommended to provide sufficient fat for developing toddlers who have graduated from breast milk or infant formula.
In the United States and Canada, a blended mixture of half cream and half milk is often sold in
The USFDA ( United States Food and Drug Administration) inacted laws a few years ago that require all products labeled as fit for human consumption to have all of their ingredients and their food value per serving (based on a 2000 calorie a day diet) posted on the containers. Among these, are the types of fat and the amount they contain. These laws were inacted to protect us from " cheating " on the part of food producers and to help the consumer get the best food value for their money and to help people who are watching their fat intake based on the cholesteral scare.
As more and more of the American food system is imported from other countries, those laws are even more important as any imported food products must meet those same FDA requirements. A can of Tuna could be 100% Tuna, But it could be Tuna eyes and head parts! Our food packaging doesn't allow us to see or sample products, so we have to trust the label.
I believe this was all started by an investigation into what breakfast cereals were actually made of, especially those marketed for children.
Milk is sold here in basically the same way as it is in the UK. You can get whole Milk, Cream, Skim milk, butter, and low-fat. Of low fat, you can get milk with 0,1 or 2 % fat content per serving. The dairy companies created the "0" and "1" percent milks to appeal to that section of our society that don't want a lot of fat in their diets.There is no law saying they have to produce these low fat milks, only that they must post the fat content on the label.
I don't doubt that in some areas, there may be a 4% fat content milk on the market. I would imagine they can extract as much or as little milk fat from the milk as they wish. There may even be a 3% milk out there somewhere!
Hope this Helps!
As more and more of the American food system is imported from other countries, those laws are even more important as any imported food products must meet those same FDA requirements. A can of Tuna could be 100% Tuna, But it could be Tuna eyes and head parts! Our food packaging doesn't allow us to see or sample products, so we have to trust the label.
I believe this was all started by an investigation into what breakfast cereals were actually made of, especially those marketed for children.
Milk is sold here in basically the same way as it is in the UK. You can get whole Milk, Cream, Skim milk, butter, and low-fat. Of low fat, you can get milk with 0,1 or 2 % fat content per serving. The dairy companies created the "0" and "1" percent milks to appeal to that section of our society that don't want a lot of fat in their diets.There is no law saying they have to produce these low fat milks, only that they must post the fat content on the label.
I don't doubt that in some areas, there may be a 4% fat content milk on the market. I would imagine they can extract as much or as little milk fat from the milk as they wish. There may even be a 3% milk out there somewhere!
Hope this Helps!
1 to 12 of 12
Related Questions
Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.