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There are still many non 100% butter products. Here is Utterly Butterly's ingredients list: Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed, Palm), Water, Buttermilk (10%), Modified

There are still many non 100% butter products. Here is Utterly Butterly's ingredients list: Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed, Palm), Water, Buttermilk (10%), Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Emulsifier - E471 Sunflower Lecithin, Preservative - Potassium Sorbate, Acid - Lactic Acid, Colours - Annatto, Curcumin, Flavouring I'm not sure what most pre-made sandwich retailers use. I would guess whatever was cheapest...

PaulRobinson 9y ago
That would be a "spread", not a margarine. The difference is down to fat content.
- jhbadger 9y ago
  That's just an arbitrary distinction to avoid calling things "margarine". Margarine had a bad reputation in the UK as something only poor people eat. In other places like the US it doesn't have this stigma and so people feel fine referring to it without euphemisms like "spread".
  - PaulRobinson 9y ago
    It's not just a semantic difference, it's normally a chemical one, and even in the US, very much a legal one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine The EU has very strict definitions of this, and in the UK (for health reasons I expect), there is no market appetite for a spread that contains partially hydrogenated oils. In the US, regulations are much more lax and substances that are considered unfit for mass market consumption in Europe (typically for health concerns), such as trans fats, are widely available in the US. You can dress this up as a "stigma" or a "euphemism", but I call it reasonable consumer protection law.
    - mrob 9y ago
      Partially hydrogenated oils or trans fats are not required for a spread to be legally considered margarine. It's possible to make margarine without them. See https://alphaalgae.wikispaces.com/file/view/trans+fat+reduction.pdf https://alphaalgae.wikispaces.com/file/view/trans+fat+reduct... The labeling requirement is theoretically protecting consumers from being ripped off by paying for water when they were expecting fat, but the manufacturers have convinced consumers this is actually a good thing ("reduced fat"). The real reason all spreads in the UK now have <80% fat is most likely cost reduction.
      - PaulRobinson 9y ago
        Will everybody on HN please stop assuming the "law" is as it is in their local jurisdiction, and why posting a technical industry article on different fats is meant to convince me I'm wrong in establishing that in the UK (the country in which this thread's food is considered), there are specific terms used for specific products, I can't fathom.
        mrob 9y ago
        Here's is the current legal definition of "margarine" in the EU (including the UK, as Brexit hasn't happened yet): http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:299:0001:0149:EN:PDF http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2... "Products in the form of a solid, malleable emulsion, principally of the water-in-oil type, derived from solid and/or liquid vegetable and/or animal fats suitable for human consumption, with a milk-fat content of not more than 3 % or the fat content. Margarine The product obtained from vegetable and/or animal fats with a fat content of not less than 80 % but less than 90 %." No mention of partial hydrogenation or trans-fats. The only reason UK spreads are not "margarine" is because they do no contain enough fat.

PaulRobinson 9y ago

That would be a "spread", not a margarine. The difference is down to fat content.

jhbadger 9y ago
That's just an arbitrary distinction to avoid calling things "margarine". Margarine had a bad reputation in the UK as something only poor people eat. In other places like the US it doesn't have this stigma and so people feel fine referring to it without euphemisms like "spread".
- PaulRobinson 9y ago
  It's not just a semantic difference, it's normally a chemical one, and even in the US, very much a legal one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine The EU has very strict definitions of this, and in the UK (for health reasons I expect), there is no market appetite for a spread that contains partially hydrogenated oils. In the US, regulations are much more lax and substances that are considered unfit for mass market consumption in Europe (typically for health concerns), such as trans fats, are widely available in the US. You can dress this up as a "stigma" or a "euphemism", but I call it reasonable consumer protection law.
  - mrob 9y ago
    Partially hydrogenated oils or trans fats are not required for a spread to be legally considered margarine. It's possible to make margarine without them. See https://alphaalgae.wikispaces.com/file/view/trans+fat+reduction.pdf https://alphaalgae.wikispaces.com/file/view/trans+fat+reduct... The labeling requirement is theoretically protecting consumers from being ripped off by paying for water when they were expecting fat, but the manufacturers have convinced consumers this is actually a good thing ("reduced fat"). The real reason all spreads in the UK now have <80% fat is most likely cost reduction.
    - PaulRobinson 9y ago
      Will everybody on HN please stop assuming the "law" is as it is in their local jurisdiction, and why posting a technical industry article on different fats is meant to convince me I'm wrong in establishing that in the UK (the country in which this thread's food is considered), there are specific terms used for specific products, I can't fathom.
      - mrob 9y ago
        Here's is the current legal definition of "margarine" in the EU (including the UK, as Brexit hasn't happened yet): http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:299:0001:0149:EN:PDF http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2... "Products in the form of a solid, malleable emulsion, principally of the water-in-oil type, derived from solid and/or liquid vegetable and/or animal fats suitable for human consumption, with a milk-fat content of not more than 3 % or the fat content. Margarine The product obtained from vegetable and/or animal fats with a fat content of not less than 80 % but less than 90 %." No mention of partial hydrogenation or trans-fats. The only reason UK spreads are not "margarine" is because they do no contain enough fat.