How can these cream milk fat percentages be correct?

Question

Recently I was at a conference at which coffee was served. On the coffee table there was a carton of Neilson brand cream with the following information listed on top: "5% M.F. dairy creamer". (Note: "M.F." stands for milk fat here).

It then goes on to advertise the following about itself: "Light - 33% less milk fat than our Neilson 10% M.F. cream".

In a conference full of mathematicians, none of us were able to figure out how these numbers possibly made sense. (5% is half (50%) of 10%, not 33%). Surely the text should read "50% less milk fat".

Furthermore, if the brand is trying to get across that this product has less milk fat than the other, surely from an advertising perspective they would want to lean into the 50% tagline, and describe it as healthily as possible.

My question is: How can these numbers possibly make sense, and is there something from a food/dairy perspective that I might be missing here?

Answer 1

My guess is the ratio has been computed from rounded values.

---

1. The Neilson 5% dairy creamer nutrition facts sheet says there is 1g of fat per tablespoon (15ml):

---

2. The Neilson half and half cream (a.k.a 10% cream) nutrition facts sheet says there is 1.5g of fat per tablespoon:

---

1g fat is 33% less fat than 1.5g fat. QED.

On the other hand, the calories ratio is consistent, jumping from 10 (5% MF) to 20 (10% MF).

Answer 2

They cannot be correct. LOL. I mistakenly thought it could be the percentage of a reconstructed milk/cream recipe, but @Stephie correctly pointed out I was not making sense. Percent fat (for milk or cream) is by legal definition the percentage of butterfat by weight of the milk product in both Canada and the United States. Even fudging with rounding (9.5% down to 5.4%), it is no where near just a 33% reduction. It just has to be a mistake.