# Fat percentage of "whole" milk **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809 "2018-09-05T17:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/21 "2018-09-06T19:05:34Z")
Stuff sold today would have been illegal to sell as milk around the turn of the previous century due to the low fat content. I want to say that fat content used to be in the double digits. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/22 "2018-09-06T19:47:22Z")
Double-digit fat content is half and half, or light cream. I remember my Grandma telling me that on their farm in North Dakota they used to milk the cows, skim the cream to sell, and feed the skim milk to the pigs since there wasn’t a market for it. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/23 "2018-09-06T20:15:04Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Stuff sold today would have been illegal to sell as milk around the turn of the previous century due to the low fat content. I want to say that fat content used to be in the double digits. Not remotely true. As noted above and in links, average milkfat for each breed is between 3.5% and 5%. And that’s with _modern_ breeding, feed, vet care, etc. 100+ years ago getting milk _consistently_ in that range would have been problematic. Attaining 3.25% 60 years ago was reasonably possible using the technique of separating the fat and then adding in measured amounts to reach a standard. (And then sometimes having surplus fat the dairy could use for extra income.) A 3.75% standard would have not been realistic. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/24 "2018-09-07T22:09:05Z")
I was given to understand that the “standard practice” in the dairy industry was to remove the fat from all milk, turning it all into ‘skim milk’, then to it back in in the appropriate quantities to create 1%, 2%, and “whole” milk, for purposes of ‘quality control’. I have no source for this information other than “the internet told me”…can anyone confirm or refute this? ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/25 "2018-09-07T22:57:48Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > I was given to understand that the “standard practice” in the dairy industry was to remove the fat from all milk, turning it all into ‘skim milk’, then to it back in in the appropriate quantities to create 1%, 2%, and “whole” milk, for purposes of ‘quality control’. I have no source for this information other than “the internet told me”…can anyone confirm or refute this? Correct, as noted in the Wikipedia article quoted in the very first reply to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/26 "2018-09-07T23:10:14Z")
> [@zombywoof](#): > > Correct, as noted in the Wikipedia article quoted in the very first reply to this thread. :smack: Somehow I managed to read every other comment in this thread to see if that point had been addressed, but missed the one which actually mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/27 "2018-09-08T09:48:50Z")
My local supermarket (UK) sells 5% milk: [https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/291974710](https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/291974710) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/28 "2018-09-08T11:18:57Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > My local supermarket (UK) sells 5% milk: [https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/291974710](https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/291974710) Yeah, Jersey milk with a higher fat content was also sold in Toronto when I lived there. But it was a speciality product that wasn’t available everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/29 "2018-09-08T13:02:52Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > Also what the cows eat will have an effect on how much milk they give and what the butterfat will be. Correct. In addition to the breed factors, as indicated above there is a reasonable amount of control that the diet gives to the milk qualities. Increasing the amount of energy (typically by the proportion of grain) and increasing the rate of rumen fermentation will increase milk yields, increase milk protein levels and reduce butterfat levels. Slowing fermentation (by increased proportion of roughage) has the opposite effect and reduces milk yield, reduces milk protein and increases butterfat levels. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809/30 "2018-09-08T15:36:54Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Stuff sold today would have been illegal to sell as milk around the turn of the previous century due to the low fat content. I linked to this source above, but you may have missed it. As of 1913, only a few U.S. jurisdictions had standards for whole milk that were higher than 3.25% butterfat (D.C., Louisiana, Maryland, and Tennessee), and none of them had standards higher than 3.5%. See [Yearbook of the USDA, 1913](https://books.google.com/books?id=VsXxTpmfj3oC&dq=3.25%20percent%20butterfat%20whole%20milk&pg=PA487#v=onepage&q=3.25%20percent%20butterfat%20whole%20milk&f=false). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-percentage-of-whole-milk/820809.md?page=1)