We have a quart of “fat free” half & half in the refrigerator at my office. Let’s think about this for a minute.
The premise of half & half is that it is half cream and half whole milk, right? Whole milk, as we all know from a zillion years of grocery shopping, is rated at 4% butterfat, hence the explosion of low and non-fat milks (2%, 1%, 1/2%, skim). Light cream, the other traditional ingredient in half & half, is rated at about 20% butterfat. Regular half & half works out to about 10 /12 to 15 percent butterfat.
So, explain to me then how fat-free half & half is any different from skim milk?
Once again, marketing triumphs over substance.
Insightful observation… I don’t have the math skills to check, but I’ll believe anything.
You can thank someone just like me for that astonishing pants-on-fire marketing ploy. I regularly work my little brain on the treadmill of public deception.
Well, you asked, so I had to look it up. According to nutritiondata.com, skim milk is lower than fat-free half and half in calories (86 vs. 143), sodium (127 mg vs. 348 mg), and carbohydrate (12 g vs. 22 mg). Skim milk also has more protein (8g vs. 6 g) and more calcium (30% vs. 22%). For fat-free half and half, which actually has 3 g total fat in 1 cup, the site says, “The Bad: A large portion of the calories in this food come from sugars.” So now you know 🙂
Carrie, with the soul of a librarian