• boonhet@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    That percentage value is the total fat content of the milk, not relative to unmodified milk. No cow puts out pure fat.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 day ago

      Yes, but “whole milk” (at least in the US) has to fit a specific definition re: fat contents. So they do have to skim it.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        Okay, sure, they skim it. But your original comment was worded a bit badly, the way I read it implied that whole milk contains 3.25% of all the fat that it should if it was truly whole, rather than that it contains 3.25% whereas true whole milk is just slightly more. Some people do believe that whole milk is actually 100% fat which is why I thought it best to correct you.

        I do wonder why they have such a precise requirement for whole milk in the US. Where I live, most whole milk sold is roughly 3.5 to 3.8 percent, and often they actually give a range instead of an exact value on the package. I could buy a carton of milk that says “3.8% to 4.4%” if I wanted to. My personal preference is “whatever’s cheaper, but if whole milk isn’t much more expensive, go for whole”. Usually I use it in food rather than drinking it straight so the flavor doesn’t matter as much to me.