# meaning of "99% fat free" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501 "2005-06-23T06:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/1 "2005-06-23T06:08:55Z")
I was eating an ice cream bar today and on the front in big letters it said “99% fat free!”. I looked on the back and it said it had one gram of fat in it. I then looked at the net weight and it was 77 grams. What exactly does 99 percent fat free mean? Does that mean it’s one percent fat? Because that doesn’t sound very good. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/2 "2005-06-23T06:10:25Z")
Yup, 1% fat. I was annoyed when I first learned it as well. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/3 "2005-06-23T06:47:53Z")
Seinfeld “What the deal with incredibly low-fat food? You know where it says 99% fat free. So why could they remove 99% of the fat, but not the other 1%?” ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/4 "2005-06-23T08:06:25Z")
Also, that’s 1% fat _by weight._ The percentage of _calories from fat_ can be a lot higher, making it very misleading for a person on a fat-restricted diet. It also means that manufacturers of certain items - processed meat products, for example - can bulk up the product with water and starches and claim to have lowered the fat content, without doing anything that actually makes it better for you. Although, if you’ve got an “ice cream” bar that honestly has only 1 gram of fat in it, **and** that doesn’t taste like frozen cotton balls, I wouldn’t complain too loudly 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/5 "2005-06-23T08:07:01Z")
> [@flight](#): > > Yup, 1% fat. I was annoyed when I first learned it as well. Erm, so what else did you think it meant before? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/6 "2005-06-23T08:28:00Z")
I think I remember a jam I saw once that added a tiny bit of fat in just so they could claim they were 99% fat free. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/7 "2005-06-23T14:34:26Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > I think I remember a jam I saw once that added a tiny bit of fat in just so they could claim they were 99% fat free. Why not leave it out, and say 100% fat free? Seems better to me! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/8 "2005-06-23T14:45:12Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Erm, so what else did you think it meant before? Before I thought about it too much, I used to think it meant the remaining 1% _contained_ fat, not that it necessarily was pure fat. Grammatically, I think this is a correct interpretation of what “99% fat free” could mean. Of course, we all know it means the remaining 1% is pure fat. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/9 "2005-06-23T15:10:58Z")
If you’ve ever tasted skim milk and then 1% milk, you’ll know how much of a difference in taste even that 1% can make. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/10 "2005-06-23T15:19:36Z")
If your grossed out by the 1% in your ice cream think about the 20-30% in your hamburger. 3 part meat, 1 part fat. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/11 "2005-06-23T15:45:58Z")
If you’re looking for a visual representation, try this. Take a tall glass of water; no fat in that. Drop a big pat of butter into it. Now, it’s 2% fat. That’s still not a heck of a lot of fat, but it’s more dramatic to think of it all in one lump. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/12 "2005-06-23T15:55:58Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > If you’re looking for a visual representation, try this. Take a tall glass of water; no fat in that. Drop a big pat of butter into it. Now, it’s 2% fat. That’s still not a heck of a lot of fat, but it’s more dramatic to think of it all in one lump. That’s a great example because it’s 2% fat _by weight_ (or 98% fat free in ad lingo) but _100%_ of the calories come from fat. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/13 "2005-06-23T16:26:02Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Erm, so what else did you think it meant before? > [@Revtim](#): > > Before I thought about it too much, I used to think it meant the remaining 1% contained fat, not that it necessarily was pure fat. > > Grammatically, I think this is a correct interpretation of what “99% fat free” could mean. Of course, we all know it means the remaining 1% is pure fat. ditto ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/14 "2005-06-23T16:35:35Z")
You guys are really gullible. You probably think 97 percent caffeine free coffee has had 97 percent of the caffeine removed. Regular coffee is generally about six percent caffeine. Take out half of that, and you have “Decaffeinated coffee” that is 97 percent caffeine free. Whenever you find a mathematical expression used in advertising, remember this: It will be expressed in the way that sounds the most advantageous to the market, and will actually be as close to a lie as the legal department of the corporation can allow. ## Tris “As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.” ~ Josh Billings ~ ---
**Author:** ![MADAME](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MADAME](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MADAME)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/15 "2005-06-23T16:41:25Z")
FYI: do you realize that sugar is technically fat free? So it could be LOADED with sugar, still get called FAT FREE, and to top it all off, guess what sugar turns into once processed by the body? It’s all about marketing… ---
**Author:** ![dlack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@dlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlack)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/16 "2005-06-23T17:33:35Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Regular coffee is generally about six percent caffeine. Take out half of that, and you have “Decaffeinated coffee” that is 97 percent caffeine free. Similarly, whole milk is about 4% fat, which is something I never knew until I decided to find out. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/17 "2005-06-23T17:52:03Z")
I always thought that 99% fat free meant that if the original product had 10% fat by weight, now it had 0.1% fat by weight. That’s how I understood the label, and I was disappointed to find out what it actually means. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/18 "2005-06-23T17:55:01Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > You guys are really gullible. You probably think 97 percent caffeine free coffee has had 97 percent of the caffeine removed. Regular coffee is generally about six percent caffeine. Take out half of that, and you have “Decaffeinated coffee” that is 97 percent caffeine free. I’d think that the decaf label is justified as long as the caffeine content goes below the effective dose for the majority of people, regardless of percentages. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/19 "2005-06-23T18:01:39Z")
Let’s look at the other side of the coin. If half of the fat of the original product were removed (say, going from whole milk to 2%), and the label said “50% fat free”, wouldn’t a lot of people get the wrong idea that the product was composed of 50% fat? ---
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501/20 "2005-06-23T18:21:49Z")
I’m certainly not complaining. But what of the back saying one gram of fat and the front saying total of 77 grams? That would be a bit over one percent fat… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-99-fat-free/309501.md?page=2)