Milk bottle top

A Christmas-themed foil milk bottle top from the United Kingdom. The red and white stripes show that it is semi-skimmed and the use by date is pressed into the foil.

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

Australia

(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

Brazil

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

Canada

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 - Chocolate milk

People's Republic of China

• Blue top - Whole Milk
• Red - Reduced Fat
• Dark Green - Low Fat
• Light Green - Skim

Republic of China

• Dark Green top - Whole Milk
• Red top - Reduced Fat
• Yellow top - Skim Milk

Hong Kong

• 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

Denmark

• Purple - Skim milk
• Light blue - 2% milk
• Dark Green - Whole milk
• Light Green - Unpasteurized
• Butterscotch - Half and Half

Finland

• Red - whole milk (3.5% fat)
• Dark blue - normal milk (1.5% fat)
• Blue - light milk (1% fat)
• Light blue - fat free milk

France

• Red top - full fat milk
• Blue top - half fat milk
• Green top - Skim milk

Germany

• Lavender top - Skim milk
• Light blue top - 1% milk
• Dark Blue top - 2% milk
• Green top - Whole Milk
• Light Green top -Buttermilk
• Brown top - Chocolate Milk

Israel

• 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

Republic of Ireland

• Blue top - whole milk
• Red top - 2% milk
• Green top - 1% milk
• Pink top - Skim Milk
• White top - creamer

Mexico

• Yellow top - Whole Milk
• Green top - 2% milk
• Blue top - 1% milk
• Red top - Skim milk

Norway

• Pink top - Whole milk
• Yellow top - 2% milk
• Green top - 1% milk
• Blue top - Skim milk

New Zealand

• 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

Russia

• Green top - Whole Milk
• Blue top - Half Milk
• Red top - Reduced Milk
• Pink top - Low fat
• Yellow top - Skim Milk

United Kingdom

A purple-top plastic milk bottle

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.

United States

• 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.

Seasonal Speciality

• 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

1. ^ Waitrose cooking library
2. ^ Real Milk is Alive and Well in England