eli5: Why is there 1%, 2%, and whole milk but not any other percentage?

Question

I just feel like its weird how the percentage goes from 1-2% to whole.

Also, what do these percentages even mean? How can you turn milk into 1% or 2% milk?

In: Other

Answer 1

The percentages refer to the milk fat content. Depending on the species of cow, natural milk has a fat percentage of about 4-6%, I think 4% being the most common in America. So that is “Whole Milk,” i.e. milk with the whole amount of fat in it. 1% and 2% Milk has had the milk fat content reduced down to 1 and 2%, and Skim Milk has had all milk fats taken out of it. Theoretically, you could possibly make 3% Milk by filtering down to 2% then reintroducing some milk fat back into it, I guess, but that just seems kind of weird.