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