If you ever suspected that skim milk was the grossest, fauxest interpretation of real milk: your instincts were right.
Milk is one of those diet staples that everyone in the Western world has grown so accustomed to. It’s hard to imagine breakfast without a glass of milk or milk in your cereal, and milk is used in coffee, desserts, baked goods, and the list goes on. Milk is one of the best sources of calcium, and it’s rich in protein and other vital minerals. Thanks to its popularity, many different types of milk have sprung up. Everything from 2% milk to lactose-free milk has been created. One of the most controversial types of milk is skim milk. Skim milk is, essentially, milk without the cream. All of the milk fat is removed, leaving only the thin liquid. It’s definitely the least enjoyable of the milk family, and truth be told, it barely qualifies as “milk.”
Now, according to a federal court, skim milk is no longer “real” milk unless it has been enriched by adding vitamins to the milk.
Years ago, Florida passed a law that stated skim milk must be labeled as an “imitation milk” product rather than just another type of milk. This is due to the fact that the removal of the cream also removes vitamins and minerals from the milk. The only way for it to be truly considered “milk” is to have those vitamins re-introduced to the milk. Without those vitamins, it can only be considered a “milk product” or “imitation milk.”
READ MORE: 10 Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium
A company called Ocheesee filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida back in 2014, after they discovered they couldn’t label their skim milk as “milk.” Instead, they had to label it as “Non-Grade ‘A’ Milk Product, Natural Milk Vitamins Removed.” They claimed their First Amendment rights of free speech were violated by this Florida law.
But, at the end of March 2016, a federal court agreed with the state of Florida and set the precedent: skim milk is NOT proper milk unless it has had the vitamins re-added to enrich the milk. Without the vitamins, it must be marketed as a “milk product” or “imitation milk.”
Of course, a great deal of controversy has gone into whether or not this is the right move. For companies like Ocheesee that want to sell pure skim milk as proper “milk” this has dealt their business a blow. In fact, the company no longer sells “skim milk” and will not do so until they are allowed to call it milk again– rather than “imitation milk” or “milk product.”
But for many, the federal court ruling is a positive outcome. Skim milk contains very little of the nutritional value found in milk. Without the cream, it contains far less calcium, Vitamin D, and saturated fat. It’s essentially white-colored whey, with a fraction of the nutritional value of regular milk. The whole purpose for skim milk was to have a type of milk with far less fat, but skim milk was created at a time when fat was demonized. As recent research has pointed out, fat is actually good for your body. It’s vital for a healthy brain, proper circulation, and even energy output. Without fat, your body won’t function, and you certainly won’t lose weight the healthy way.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that this non-fat milk product is labeled as such. It may be just one more step toward re-embracing fats as part of a healthy diet. Once people understand that fat, in moderation, is vital for a healthy body, they will stop looking at it with skepticism and once again consume natural products high in fats.
