Filled milk

Filled milkis any milk, cream, or skimmilkthat has been reconstituted withfats,usuallyvegetable oils,from sources other thandairy cows.^[1]Pure evaporated filled milk is generally considered unsuitable for drinking because of its particular flavor, but is equivalent to unadulterated evaporated milk for baking and cooking purposes. Other filled milk products with substituted fat are used to makeice cream,sour cream,whipping cream,andhalf-and-halfsubstitutes among other dairy products. Coconut oil filled milk became a popular cost-saving product sold throughout the United States in the early 20th century.Coconut oilcould be cheaply imported, primarily from thePhilippines(at the timeunder American rule), and this product was able to undercut the market forevaporatedandcondensed milk.At the time, liquid milk was not widely available or very popular in cities because of the rarity of refrigeration and the problems of transportation and storage.

History and importance in American law[edit]

In 1923, theUnited States Congressbanned the interstate sale of filled milk "in imitation or semblance of milk, cream, or skimmed milk" via the "Filled Milk Act"of March 4, 1923 (c. 262, 42 Stat. 1486,21 U.S.C.§§ 61–63), in response to intense lobbying by the dairy industry, attempting to protect its market against competition by cheaper foreign fat. Many states also passed bans or restrictions on the sale and production of filled milk products. The issue of filled milk came to the forefront inUnited States v. Carolene Products Co.wherein Carolene Products Co. was indicted in theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of Illinoisfor violation of the Act by the shipment in interstate commerce of certain packages of "Milnut," a compound of condensed skimmed milk and coconut oil made in imitation or semblance of condensed milk or cream. The indictment stated, in the words of the statute, that Milnut "is an adulterated article of food, injurious to the public health," and that it is not a prepared food product of the type excepted from the prohibition of the Act.

Subsequently, most states have eliminated restrictions on filled milk and several states have gone against the Supreme Court and struck down restrictions on filled milk. Even theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of Illinoisthat originally ruled that a rational basis supported the Filled Milk Act reversed their decision inMilnot Co. v. Richardson,350 F.Supp. 221 (S.D. Ill. 1972). Further, theUnited States Department of Agriculturehas broadly refused to consider filled milk products to be "in imitation or semblance of milk" and therefore has declined to see them as within the statute. The Milnot Company, which still exists, in this case was a descendant of the original Carolene Products Company. Currently, filled milk continues to be widely available in supermarkets in the United States as "Milnot", a brand now owned byThe J.M. Smucker Company.

References[edit]

^21 U.S.C.§ 61(c)

External links[edit]

The Filled Milk Actat theWayback Machine(archived May 11, 2009)
Milnot
Litchfield Creamery Company, Historical Society of Montgomery County Illinoisat theWayback Machine(archived March 4, 2016)

[1] 21 U.S.C.§ 61(c)

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