ANSWER

There are 3 common types of fat spreads which are butter, blend spread and margarine.

Fat spread is a form of emulsion, which comprises of edible fats & oils. The edible fats and oils are mainly comprised of triglycerides from fatty acids obtained from vegetables, animals (including milk) or off marine origin. The principle raw materials involved are water and/or milk products, edible fats and/or oils, or mixtures of these. (Bylund, 1995)

A. Butter

Butter is a semi-solid mass product derived exclusively from milk or cream, or both which contains > 80% milk-fat and <16% water.

B. Blended Spreads

A blended spread is made from edible fat or edible oil. It contains a higher percentage of milk fat compared to margarine. Blended spreads has milk fat that contains more than 3% of the total fat content. However a higher minimum percentage of milk fat may be specified in accordance with the requirements of the country of the retail sale (Codex Alimentarius Commission, 2007).

C. Margarine

Margarine is made from edible fat or edible oil and is capable of being used for the same purpose as butter. Margarine contains a minimum of 80%, a maximum of 16% water and a maximum of 4% salt. Margarines are usually made from a mixture of unsaturated oils such as rapeseed, sunflower or olive oil. It may contain milk and milk sugar (Codex Alimentarius Commission, 1981).

References

Bylund, G. (1995). Dairy Processing Handbook – Chapter 12 Butter and Dairy Spread. Sweden: Tetra Pak Processing Systems AB.

Codex Alimentarius Commission (1981). Codex Standard for Margarine (Codex Stan 32-1981).

Codex Alimentarius Commission. (2017). Standard for Fat Spreads and Blended Spreads (Codex Stan 256-2007).