Half and Half Label

I'm not a coffee drinker, nor am I on a diet, but I was still intrigued by a recent label for "Fat-Free Half & Half."

How can it be fat-free if it's half cream? A look at the ingredient label showed me the two tricks being used.

1) The first ingredient listed is skim milk. True, that would have slightly less fat than whole milk. But look what they've added next, probably to compensate: corn syrup. 2) The third ingredient listed is "Cream*" The asterisk is important, because it refers to this note: "Adds a trivial amount of fat." How much? We can't tell. I've noticed on other labels that numbers less than 0.5 have been rounded down to zero (that's apparently why 0.49 g Tic Tacs can contain 0 g sugar.)

Fat free? I think not. High-calorie? Yes, especially with all that extra sugar. Deceptive? Absolutely.