With increasing health awareness, you will find more and more people shifting to 1% milk and other such low calorie substitutes of milk. However, have you ever been bothered by questions like what is 1% milk; is 1% milk natural, and most importantly what does the 1% in 1% milk stand for! If you have, then do read on and get answers for all those pestering questions.  

Well, 1% milk is cow’s milk with fat content reduced to just 1%. The naturally occurring raw cow’s milk contains anything between 4% to almost 6% fat. However, the processed milk found in the market rarely conforms to this composition. 

In modern milk processing units, raw milk that is delivered to the dairies undergoes a series of processing before it reaches your refrigerator. To begin with, the raw milk from various depots is delivered to the dairy. The milk is then combined, mixed in huge mixers, and transferred to an industrial machine called the separator. The separator basically centrifuges the milk, so that all the fat in the milk forms a creamy top layer and the non fat milk components are dispersed in a watery bottom layer. The milk fat is then siphoned out and what is felt is 0% or rather fat free milk. Now, the dairies reconstitute the fat free milk with different proportions of milk fat, to make 1% milk, 2% milk, toned milk, and full fat milk. The milk is then pasteurized, processed, and packaged. Since, the fat is responsible for the creamy body and rich white color of the milk, 1% milk will typically be watery, kind of translucent, and have a very thin consistency.

Thus, to answer the question what is 1% milk and what does the 1% stand for; 1% milk is basically milk with only 1% fat. It is not naturally occurring milk, rather cow’s milk that has been processed to provide you with a milk that fits into your calorie and fat requirements. 

Image credits: mcarthurdairy.com