Did You Know The Milk Aisle Isn’t What It Seems

Whole milk is not 100 percent milk, and 6 percent milk contains almost double the fat of whole milk, even though many shoppers assume the opposite. The word whole does not describe strength, richness, or how much milk you are getting. It simply means the milk still has its natural cream. The numbers on the carton measure milk fat only, and that misunderstanding is what causes most of the confusion in the dairy aisle.

The name whole milk comes from a time when milk was either skimmed or not skimmed. Whole milk is the baseline. Other milks are created by removing cream or adding more of it. That small processing difference changes the fat level, but the labels do not make that obvious.

Here is what those labels actually mean.

• Skim milk
  Milk fat: 0 to 0.5 percent
  Almost all natural cream removed
• 2 percent milk
  Milk fat: 2 percent
  Some cream removed
• Whole milk
  Milk fat: 3.25 percent
  Natural cream left in
• 6 percent milk
  Milk fat: 6 percent
  Extra cream added, nearly double the fat of whole milk

This is where the mistake happens. Many people avoid whole milk because the word whole sounds extreme, while a number like 6 percent sounds small or harmless. In reality, 6 percent milk contains significantly more fat than whole milk.

If whole milk were labeled as 3.25 percent instead of being called whole, would people make different choices the next time they stand in the milk aisle?