Milk bottle top
A milk bottle top is a lid to a milk bottle. They are usually colour-coded to show the consumer the different varieties of milk, especially the flavour or fat content. This colour-coding tends to vary between, but is usually consistent within, countries.
Countries
(these are all screw top plastic lids)
- Blue top - Regular milk
- Purple top - Reduced Fat milk
- Light blue top - Low Fat milk
- Pink top - Skim milk
- Gold Top - Unhomogenized
- Green Top - Light milk
(flavoured milks)
- Pink - strawberry
- Light Brown - coffee
- Dark Brown - chocolate
These are used almost only for premium pasteurized milk. UHT packaging colours varies by brand.
- Blue top - Regular (whole) milk
- Red top - Semi-skimmed milk
- Yellow top - Skim milk
Labelling colours vary from dairy bottlers:
- Blue top - Skim milk or 2% milk
- Purple top - 1% milk
- Pink top - 2% milk
- Green top - 1% milk
- Red top - 3.8% or homogenized milk
- White - chocolate milk
- Yellow top - Homogenized milk or skim milk
- Brown - DO NOT DRINK , SPOILED!
- Blue top - Whole Milk
- Red - Reduced Fat
- Dark Green - Low Fat
- Light Green - Skim
- Dark Green top - Whole Milk
- Red top - Reduced Fat
- Yellow top - Skim Milk
- Silver top - 3.5g fat and 110mg Calcium
- Green top - hi-calcium with 2.0g fat and 165mg of Calcium
- Gold top - slim milk with 2g fat and 160mg calcium or milk full cream with milk re-added
- Purple - Skim milk
- Light blue - 2% milk
- Dark Green - Whole milk
- Light Green - Unpasteurized
- Butterscotch - Half and Half
- Red - whole milk (3.5% fat)
- Dark blue - normal milk (1.5% fat)
- Blue - light milk (1% fat)
- Light blue - fat free milk
- Red top - full fat milk
- Blue top - half fat milk
- Green top - Skim milk
Milk bags
- Red Packet - 6% Full cream milk
- Green Packet - 4.5% Standardized milk
- Blue Packet - 3% Toned milk
- Magenta Packet - 1.5% Double toned milk
- Red top - Kefir
- Blue top - Whole milk
- Light blue top - 2% milk
- Green top - 1% milk
- Light green - Skim milk
Milk bags
- Red spout - Whole milk
- Green Spout- 2% milk
- Blue spout - Skim milk
- Blue top - whole milk
- Red top - 2% milk
- Green top - 1% milk
- Pink top - Skim Milk
- White top - creamer
- Yellow top - Whole Milk
- Green top - 2% milk
- Blue top - 1% milk
- Red top - Skim milk
- Pink top - Whole milk
- Yellow top - 2% milk
- Green top - 1% milk
- Blue top - Skim milk
- Silver/Grey top - full fat milk - not homogenized
- Blue top - Full fat
- Light blue top -lite semi skimmed - 1.5% fat
- Dark green top - trim - fully skimmed
- Light green top - trim - Super skimmed
- Yellow top - trim -added calcium
- Orange top - Mega milk, packed with calcuim
- Red top - fresh cream
- Green top - Whole Milk
- Blue top - Half Milk
- Red top - Reduced Milk
- Pink top - Low fat
- Yellow top - Skim Milk
Plastic bottles
- Blue top - Whole Milk (3.5% fat content)
- Green top - Semi skimmed Milk (1.7% fat content)
- Red top - Skimmed Milk (0.3% fat content)
Less Common
- Purple top - Morrisons own brand, 'The One' brand and Waitrose own brand (1% fat content)
- Gold top (not orange top) - Sainsbury's (1% fat content)
- White top - Asda milk (5.5% fat content)
Glass bottles
- Gold foil - milk from Channel Island (Jersey/Guernsey) breeds (about 5.2% fat)[1]
- Silver foil - whole milk (about 4% fat - minimum 3.5%)
- Red foil - Homogenised whole milk
- Red and silver striped foil - semi-skimmed milk (less than 2% fat)
- Blue and silver checkered foil - skimmed milk (0.1 to 0.3% fat)
- Green foil - raw (unpasteurized) milk, giving rise to the name "green-top milk"
- Gold striped foil on a green background - unpasteurized milk from Channel Island breeds[2]
Note: Blue Peter often had annual charity campaigns where children would collect aluminium bottle-tops to raise money.
- Red tops - whole milk.
- Light blue tops - skim milk.
- Blue tops - 2% milk.
- Purple tops - 1% milk.
- Brown tops - chocolate milk.
- Green tops - buttermilk.
- White tops - Unhomogenized milk.
- Black tops - Unpasteurized milk.
- Strawberry Milk - Mauve - Available year round - colored top
- Pumpkin Spice milk - Yellow-orange top - available from Late September until about November 15.
- Egg Nog - Red Top- Available around Christmas
- Light Egg Nog- Green top- Available a little past New Year, due to its lesser popularity.
- Soy Milk- White Top - Usually in cartons, in a separate section or store
Benefits
The colour-coding of milk bottle tops helps consumers quickly to choose the product they want without having to look at labels. It also encourages consistency between regions.
References