Consumer awareness of the potential health issues related to the consumption of saturated fats has increased over the past years. As milk fat contains more saturated fats than most plant oils, the effect of milk and dairy product consumption on human health has been questioned. The objective of this trial was to provide an assessment of the current fatty acid (FA) profile, especially saturated FA, of bulk milk from 3 breeds [Holstein (HO), Jersey (JE), and Brown Swiss (BS)] in Quebec, Canada. Every wk from August 2014 to February 2015, milk samples (n = 97,999) from the bulk tank of 4,026 dairy herds were collected and sent to the Valacta laboratory (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada) for analysis. Milk fat and FA contents were determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Data were analyzed using the MIXED and SQL procedures of SAS. As expected, bulk milk from JE had the highest milk fat content (5.24%) followed by bulk milk from BS (4.42%) and HO (4.15%; P < 0.0001). Table 1 shows that bulk milk FA profile differs between the 3 studied breeds; milk from JE herds had the highest content of saturated FA and the lowest content of polyunsaturated FA. Saturated FA content in bulk milk increased from August to February, varying from 64.66 in August to 67.11 g/100 g of total FA in February (P < 0.0001). Significant variation among herds was also observed (P < 0.0001), with saturated FA ranging from 51.18 to 76.28 g/100 of total FA. These results suggest that bulk milk FA profile varies according to breed, sampling month, and herd. Table 1. Milk fatty acid (FA) profile in bulk milk of 3 breeds (g/100 g of total FA; least squares means ± SEM)

Item	HO	JE	BS	P-value
C16:0	34.50 ± 0.01	35.12 ± 0.06	32.93 ± 0.10	<0.0001
C18:0	13.01 ± 0.00	13.11 ± 0.02	13.88 ± 0.04	<0.0001
C18:1	31.07 ± 0.01	28.00 ± 0.06	30.00 ± 0.10	<0.0001
Short-chain FA	9.62 ± 0.00	11.12 ± 0.02	10.74 ± 0.03	<0.0001
Medium-chain FA	43.75 ± 0.01	48.91 ± 0.11	46.00 ± 0.18	<0.0001
Long-chain FA	39.97 ± 0.01	36.90 ± 0.07	40.26 ± 0.12	<0.0001
Saturated FA	66.05 ± 0.01	69.36 ± 0.07	65.64 ± 0.12	<0.0001
Unsaturated FA	29.76 ± 0.01	27.77 ± 0.06	30.73 ± 0.11	<0.0001
Polyunsaturated FA	8.38 ± 0.00	7.43 ± 0.02	8.40 ± 0.03	<0.0001