What is the difference between “margarine” and a “buttery spread”?
Even before “margarine” first became a staple in the American diet in the 1950s, federal regulations (called standards of identity) required that both margarine and butter contain 80 percent fat. Today, many products found alongside margarine and butter in the store have less than 80 percent fat; they are called vegetable oil spreads (or referred to as buttery spreads on this Website). These spreads are the most popular products today and are consistent with health professionals’ recommendations to choose foods low in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.
