Butterfat or milkfat is the fatty portion of milk. Milk and cream are often sold according to the amount of butterfat they contain.

Composition

Butterfat is mainly composed of triglycerides. Each triglyceride contains three fatty acids. Butterfat triglycerides contain the following amounts of fatty acids (by mass fraction):The quote values vary by 1–3% according to the source: Butterfat contains about 3% trans fat, which is slightly less than 0.5 grams per US tablespoon. Trans fats occur naturally in meat and milk from ruminants. The predominant kind of trans fat found in milk is vaccenic fatty acid. Trans fats may be also found in some industrially produced foods, such as

shortenings In linguistics, clipping, also called truncation or shortening, is word formation by removing some segments of an existing word to create a synonym. Clipping differs from abbreviation, which is based on a shortening of the written, rather than ...

obtained by hydrogenation of vegetable oils. In light of recognized scientific evidence, nutritional authorities consider all trans fats equally harmful for health and recommend that their consumption be reduced to trace amounts. However, two Canadian studies have shown that vaccenic acid could be beneficial compared to vegetable shortenings containing trans fats, or a mixture of pork

lard Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.Lard
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and soy fat, by lowering total LDL and triglyceride levels. A study by the US Department of Agriculture showed that vaccenic acid raises both HDL and LDL cholesterol, whereas industrial trans fats only raise LDL with no beneficial effect on HDL.

U.S. standards

In the U.S., there are federal standards for butterfat content of dairy products.USDA Commercial Item Description: Cream, Eggnog, Half-and-half, and Sour Cream
(2002). Many other countries also have standards for minimum fat levels in dairy products. Commercial products generally contain the minimum legal amount of fat with any excess being removed to make cream, a valuable commodity. * Milks ** Non-fat milk, also labeled "fat-free milk" or "skim milk", contains less than 0.5% fat ** Low-fat milk is 1% fat ** Reduced-fat milk is 2% fat ** Whole milk contains at least 3.25% fat *

Cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

s ** Dry curd and nonfat cottage cheese contain less than 0.5% fat ** Lowfat cottage cheese contains 0.5–2% fat ** Cottage cheese contains at least 4% fat ** Swiss cheese contains at least 43% fat relative to the total solids **

Cheddar cheese Cheddar cheese (or simply cheddar) is a natural cheese that is relatively hard, off-white (or orange if colourings such as annatto are added), and sometimes sharp-tasting. Cheddar originates from the English village of Cheddar in Somerset. Ched ...

contains at least 50% fat relative to the total solids * Frozen

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of Greece and West Africa, and ...

s ** sherbet contains 1–2% fat ** Lowfat ice cream, also called ice milk, contains no more than 2.6% fat ** Ice cream contains at least 10% fat ** Frozen custard, like ice cream, contains at least 10% fat, but it also must contain at least 1.4% egg yolk solids * Creams ** Half and half contains 10.5–18% fat ** Light cream and sour cream contain 18–30% fat ** Light

whipping cream Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, and ...

(often called simply "whipping cream") contains 30–36% fat ** Heavy cream contains a minimum of 36% fat ** Manufacturer's cream (not federally regulated) contains 40% fat * Butter (including whipped butter) contains at least 80% fat

References

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Composition

U.S. standards

See also

References