Kalber Dairy Export Department

Fat Composition of Dairy Products

Each dairy product has its own unique fat content and composition, due to several processes or factors such as cow feed composition

01/08/2022

Dairy Products

Each dairy product has its own unique fat content, due to many important factors such as cow feed composition. As milk is processed in different ways, the fat content of dairy products can range from around 0% to around 80%. Milk fat is composed of a wide range of fatty acids (more than 200 different fatty acids), which makes it one of nature’s most complex fatty acid fractions.

Milk fat content

Raw, full-fat, semi-skimmed, and skimmed milk each have their own percentage of fat. Raw milk has an average fat content of 4.4g of milk fat per 100g and can be skimmed to obtain full-fat and lower-fat varieties. Full-fat milk is standardized to 3.5% fat and semi-skimmed milk contains approximately 1.5% fat. Skimmed milk and buttermilk are very low in fat and contain around 0.1 or 0.2% fat respectively. Due to international differences in standardization, however, the fat percentage for (semi)-skimmed, whole milk, and buttermilk can vary according to country.

Yogurt and cheese fat content

Fat content and fat composition of dairy products-Yoghurt are produced by acidifying skimmed, semi-skimmed or whole milk using lactic acid bacteria. The fat content is therefore almost similar to the milk it is made from, ranging roughly from 0.2% to 3% fat. Cheese always has a notably higher fat content, although the range is broad. For example, cottage cheese – with a high moisture content – has a relatively low-fat percentage (80% water, 4.3% fat). Matured hard cheese, such as regular parmesan, is low in moisture and therefore has a relatively high-fat content (40% water, 30% fat).

Cream and butter fat content

The cream is produced by skimming the layer of fat from milk before homogenization. Cream’s fat content can vary per country, but full-fat cream or heavy cream usually has a fat content of about 35%. The cream can be churned into butter, serving to further lower its moisture content and coagulate the milk fats and proteins. Butter usually contains around 80% fat.

To contact the Kalber dairy export department, refer to the contact section.

Product	Energy (Kcal/100g)	Fat (g/100g)	Saturated fatty acids (g/100g)
Milk (full fat)	66	3.9	2.5
Milk (semi-skimmed)	46	1.7	1.1
Milk (skimmed)	32	0.2	0.1
Yogurt (full fat)	79	3	1.7
Yogurt (skimmed)	56	1	0.7
Cheese (gouda-full fat)	377	30.6	20.3
Cheese (cream)	439	47.4	29.7
Butter	744	82.2	52.1
Cream	239	23.9	14.9