
Family-Run Farm Sues FDA for Right to Say Skim Milk Is Skim Milk - kyleblarson
http://ij.org/press-release/family-run-farm-sues-fda-right-say-skim-milk-skim-milk/
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Finnucane
It is not clear at all from this article, but I make a guess that what is
going on here is that the FDA requires that skim milk be fortified with
vitamin A to replace the vitamin A that is lost when the milkfat is removed.
This farm didn't want to do that.

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tk75x
From the article: "Milk contains healthy vitamins and minerals that are
naturally stored in either water or fat. Because skim milk is made by removing
the fat from whole milk, skim milk has more water-soluble nutrients like
calcium but lacks fat-soluble vitamins A and D. The FDA requires dairy farmers
to add synthetic versions of those lost vitamins to skim milk in order to
label skim milk as “skim milk.” Without the fat of whole milk, the vitamins
break down in skim milk before reaching consumers. In other words, the FDA
manages to confuse American milk drinkers without providing any health
benefits."

The addition of vitamins seems to be a useless step (because they break down
without fat and do not provide health benefits in the end) that probably costs
some amount of money that could be saved by a small scale farm. Also the
marketing value of being able to honestly say "100% natural, no additives"
etc. is another factor.

