Filled milk is any milk, cream, or skim
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...
that has been reconstituted with
fat
In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...
s, usually
vegetable oils
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...
, from sources other than
dairy cow
Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species ''Bos taurus''.
Historically, little distinction was mad ...
s.
[(c)] Pure evaporated filled milk is generally considered unsuitable for drinking because of its particular flavor, but is equivalent to unadulterated evaporated milk for baking and cooking purposes. Other filled milk products with substituted fat are used to make
ice cream
Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
,
sour cream
Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, ...
,
whipping cream, and
half-and-half substitutes among other dairy products. Coconut oil filled milk became a popular cost-saving product sold throughout the United States in the early 20th century.
Coconut oil could be cheaply imported, primarily from the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
(at the time
under American rule), and this product was able to undercut the market for
evaporated
Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. High concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humi ...
and
condensed milk. At the time, liquid milk was not widely available or very popular in cities because of the rarity of refrigeration and the problems of transportation and storage.
History and importance in American law
In 1923, the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
banned the interstate sale of filled milk "in imitation or semblance of milk, cream, or skimmed milk" via the "
Filled Milk Act
''United States v. Carolene Products Company'', 304 U.S. 144 (1938), was a case of the United States Supreme Court that upheld the federal government's power to prohibit filled milk from being shipped in interstate commerce. In his majority opin ...
" of March 4, 1923 (c. 262, 42 Stat. 1486, , in response to intense lobbying by the dairy industry, attempting to protect its market against competition by cheaper foreign fat. Many states also passed bans or restrictions on the sale and production of filled milk products. The issue of filled milk came to the forefront in ''
United States v. Carolene Products Co.'' wherein Carolene Products Co. was indicted in the
for violation of the Act by the shipment in interstate commerce of certain packages of "Milnut," a compound of condensed skimmed milk and coconut oil made in imitation or semblance of condensed milk or cream. The indictment stated, in the words of the statute, that Milnut "is an adulterated article of food, injurious to the public health," and that it is not a prepared food product of the type excepted from the prohibition of the Act.
Subsequently, most states have eliminated restrictions on filled milk and several states have gone against the Supreme Court and struck down restrictions on filled milk. Even the
that originally ruled that a rational basis supported the Filled Milk Act reversed their decision in ''Milnot Co. v. Richardson'', 350 F.Supp. 221 (S.D. Ill. 1972). Further, the
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
has broadly refused to consider filled milk products to be "in imitation or semblance of milk" and therefore has declined to see them as within the statute. The Milnot Company, which still exists, in this case was a descendant of the original Carolene Products Company. Currently, filled milk continues to be widely available in supermarkets in the United States as "Milnot", a brand now owned by
The J.M. Smucker Company.
References
External links
*
Milnot*
{{Milk navbox
Dairy products
The J.M. Smucker Co. brands
Milk