Milk Bottle Top

A milk bottle top is a lid to a milk bottle. milk bottle tops are systematically colour-coded to show the consumer the different varieties of milk. This colour-coding tends to vary between, but is usually consistent within, countries.

Australia

 * Blue top - Regular milk
 * Purple top - Reduced Fat milk
 * Light blue top - Low Fat milk
 * Red top - Skim milk
 * Gold Top - Unhomogenized

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

 * Aluminum top - Skim milk
 * Red top - whole milk
 * Blue top - 1% milk
 * Yellow top - 2% milk
 * Green top - cream

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
Milk bags
 * Red top - Kefir
 * Blue top - Whole milk
 * Light blue top - 2% milk
 * Green top - 1% milk
 * Light green - Skim milk
 * 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

 * Purple top - full fat milk
 * Dark blue top - standard fat milk
 * Light blue top - "lite"(light fat) milk
 * Dark green top - trim (semi skimmed) milk
 * Light green top - trim (fully skimmed) milk
 * Yellow top - trim (fully skimmed with added calcium) milk
 * 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

Plastic bottles
and much less commonly,
 * Blue top - whole/full fat milk; fat content around 3.25%
 * Green top - semi skimmed milk; fat content around 1.8%
 * Red top - skimmed milk;yellow fat content typically 0.1%
 * Purple top ('The One' brand) or orange top (Sainsbury's own brand) - fat content of 1%
 * Gold top - Channel Island milk; fat content around 5.5%.

Glass bottles
See also
 * Silver foil - whole milk
 * Red striped foil - semi skimmed milk
 * Blue hatched foil on a silver background - skimmed milk
 * Green foil - raw (unpasteurized) milk, giving rise to the name "green-top milk".

Blue Peter often had annual charity campaigns where children would collect aluminium bottle-tops to raise money.

United States

 * Red tops indicate whole milk.
 * Pink or light blue tops indicate skim milk.
 * Blue tops indicate 2% milk.
 * Yellow or purple tops indicate 1% milk.
 * Brown tops indicate chocolate milk.
 * Green tops indicate buttermilk.
 * White tops indicate Unhomogenized milk.
 * Black tops indicate 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.

Criticisms
Critics say that emphasising fat content makes consumers think less of other qualities of manufactured milk: added vitamins and homogenising chemicals, whether it is organic, or perhaps the welfare of the animals supplying it.