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Plain Old Milk? Not Anymore

Those who remember the days when supermarkets offered only two kinds of milk, whole or skim, probably remember the Yankee's winning the World Series on a regular basis, not just every 18 years. Milk is no longer, well, just milk. There is whole milk, 2 percent, 1 percent, skim, fortified skim, lactose-reduced, lactose-free and farm-fresh in bottles. There is goat's milk and organic milk, in whole, low-fat or skim. There is even something called Replace, a new skim milk fortified with oat flour to improve it texture and add fiber. In coming months, supermarkets are likely to be making room for a plethora of flavored milks and milk-based drinks. Brian Swette, the executive vice president for marketing at the Pepsi-Cola Company, which has introduced Smooth Moos, a low-fat drink that is 70 percent milk and comes in flavors like strawberry and banana, called milk ''the last undeveloped beverage frontier.''

Today, variety drives every part of the supermarket. ''People expect choices,'' said Michael Rourke, a senior vice president of A. & P., which owns about 1,000 supermarkets, including the Food Emporium and Waldbaum's chains. ''Ten years ago the average supermarket had about 15,000 items. Today, it's 40,000.'' Mr. Rourke said that A. & P., has expanded the space devoted to milk and, by eliminating duplication, has tried to provide room for specialty milks like the Lactaid and organic varieties. As a result, when it comes to basic milk - whole, 2 percent, 1 percent and skim - the stores no longer stock several brands. ''We now carry only our own private-label American's Choice brand,'' he said. ''We can control it better in terms of space and also freshness.''

Milk, that wholesome beverage for the Cleaver family and for many Americans in decades past, began showing signs of change about 20 years ago. The consumption of whole milk, which accounted for more than 70 percent of milk sales in 1974, dropped 10 percent, from 19.5 gallons per capita a year in 1974 to 17.6 gallons in 1977. By 1990, consumption had fallen to 9.7 gallons. And last year, it dropped to 8.1 gallons of whole milk, which accounted for only 35 percent of total milk sales.

During this same period, per-capita consumption of low-fat milk, the 1 percent and 2 percent varieties, more than doubled, from 5.2 gallons in 1974 to 10.5 gallons in 1995. Skim milk started its upward trend about a decade ago, from an annual consumption of 1.4 gallons per person in 1985 to 3.6 gallons per person last year. ''Today, skim milk is the fastest-growing category,'' said Susan Ruland, the director of communications for the Milk Industry Foundation, a trade group in Washington. In large part because of skim's success, the foundation estimates that in 1996, for the first time in two decades, consumption will increase, inching upward to 22.5 gallons per person, from 22.3 gallons last year. Some of the increase may be due to the industry's $52 million ''milk mustache'' advertising campaign, which started in January 1995. Adults were not mistaken about the calories and fat, at least in some kinds of milk. An 8-ounce glass of old-fashioned whole milk contains 150 calories, 8.2 grams of fat and 33.2 milligrams of cholesterol. Two percent milk has 121 calories, 4.7 grams of fat and 18.3 milligrams of cholesterol. One percent has 102 calories, 2.6 grams of fat and 9.8 milligrams of cholesterol. And most skim milk has 85.5 calories, 0.4 grams of fat and 4.4 milligrams of cholesterol.