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
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 (are mostly screw top plastic lids):
*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- skim milk
Older bottles used paper pull caps with colour coded text.
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
* Grey - Skim milk
* Light blue - 1.5% milk
* Dark blue - Whole milk
* Very light blue - Mini milk (fairly new to the market 0.5% butterfat)
* Green - Buttermilk
* Red - Double cream (38%)
* Butterscotch - Half and Half
* Purple - Single cream (18% with starch, for cooking)
* Brown - Chocolate milk (made with skim milk and cocoa)
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
*Blue top - half fat milk
*Green top - Skim milk
Germany
*Lavender top - Skim milk
*Light blue top - 1% milk
*Dark Blue top - 2%
*Green top - Whole Milk
*Light Green top -Buttermilk
*Brown top - Chocolate Milk
India
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
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
South Korea
*Green top - Skim milk by Mai-il
*Sky-blue top - Skim milk
*Brown top - Whole milk by Mai-il
*Generally, the details are shown in letters
Republic of Ireland
*Blue top - whole milk
*Red top - 2% milk
*Green top - 1% milk
*Pink top - Skim Milk
*White top -
Mexico
*Yellow top - Whole Milk
*Green top - 2% milk
*Blue top - 1% milk
*Red top - Skim milk
Norway
*Red top - Whole milk (3,9%)
*Dark pink top - 1,2-1,5% milk
*Green top - 0,5-0,7% milk
*Light pink top - Skim milk (0,1%)
New Zealand
*Red top - Fresh cream
* Silver top - Full cream milk - non-homogenised
*Dark blue top - Whole milk
*Light blue top - Lite - semi skimmed - 1.5% fat
*Dark green top - Trim - fully skimmed
*Light green top - Super Trim - super skimmed
*Yellow top - Trim - fortified with calcium and vitamin D
*Orange top - Mega - fortified with calcium and protein
*Brown top - Chocolate Milk
* Pink top - Strawberry Milk
* Yellow top - Banana Milk
* Green top - Lime Milk
Poland
Red colour usually marks the milk with the highest percentage of fat. Green is reserved mostly for low-fat milk, while yellow and blue are used interchangeably for 1,5-2,0% milk.
*Red top - 3,2% milk (also 3,5%, and sometimes 2,0%)
*Blue top - 1,5-2% milk (also 0,0%)
*Yellow top - 2,0% milk
*Green top - 0,5% milk
Russia
*Green top - Whole Milk
*Blue top - Half Milk
*Red top - Reduced Milk
*Pink top - Low fat
*Yellow top - Skim Milk
United Kingdom
Plastic bottles
* Blue top - Whole Milk (3.6% fat content)
* Green top - Semi-Skimmed Milk (1.7% fat content)
* Orange top - (1% fat content) (Except Morrisons and Waitrose)
* Red top - Skimmed Milk (0.1% fat content)
* Gold top - Channel island milk (5.2-5.4% fat content)
Less Common
* Purple top - Morrisons own brand, 'The One' brand
* Purple top - Waitrose (1% fat content)
* Purple top - Tesco own brand, Creamfields
* Purple top - WISEMAN DARIES 'the One' (1% fat content)
Glass bottles
* Gold foil - milk from Channel Island (Jersey/Guernsey) breeds (about 5.2% fat)
* 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 striped foil - skimmed milk (0.1 to 0.3% fat)
* Green foil - milk, giving rise to the name "green-top milk"
* Gold striped foil on a green background - unpasteurized milk from Channel Island breeds
* Pink foil - Organic skimmed milk
* Blue foil - Organic whole milk
* Green foil - Organic semi-skimmed milk
Note: Blue Peter often had annual charity campaigns where children would collect aluminium bottle-tops to raise money.
United States
* Red tops - whole milk
* Pink/Light blue tops - skimmed milk and 1% fat content
* Blue tops - milk with 2% fat content
* Green tops - milk with 1% fat content
* Brown tops - chocolate milk
* Green tops - buttermilk
* White tops - Unhomogenized milk
* Black tops - Unpasteurized milk
* Yellow tops - depending on the dairy these may be low fat(1%)
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.

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See Also

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