It is widely believed that cottage cheese is one of the healthiest foods in the world. After all, it is rich in protein, essential amino acids, trace elements, especially calcium and phosphorus, and various vitamins. But often in stores and markets, under the guise of cottage cheese, they are offered a cottage cheese product. What is it?
What is the difference between a curd product and cottage cheese
Cottage cheese contributes to the normalization of metabolism, the formation of bone tissue. In addition, it is well absorbed, therefore it is especially useful for children and the elderly. Not surprisingly, many people try to consume cottage cheese regularly.
According to GOST, cottage cheese is a product made from whole milk with the addition of natural animal fats and natural starter cultures. From the moment of manufacture, such a product can be stored for no more than 72 hours (of course, in the refrigerator).
Buyers are very often offered a product that does not meet these conditions. The most common violation is the use of vegetable fats, not animal fats, in the production process. Usually it is palm or coconut oil (a mixture of these oils can also be used).
As a result, the cost of the product is significantly reduced, because such vegetable fats are much cheaper than natural animal fats!
In addition, in order to reduce costs, part manufacturers use powdered milk rather than whole milk as raw materials. And finally, to extend the shelf life, various artificial antioxidants and stabilizers can be added to the product, which, of course, cannot be found in natural curd.
According to current regulations, the manufacturer must indicate these substances on the packaging.
If there is no such information, but the specified shelf life exceeds 72 hours, you can be sure that this is not cottage cheese, but a curd product.
Is the curd product useful or harmful for the body?
Natural cottage cheese is useful not only because it contains a large amount of protein and microelements. In addition, natural cottage cheese is a real storehouse of live lactic acid bacteria, which play a beneficial role for the intestinal microflora. It is easy to understand that in a curd product, which, thanks to cheap substitutes for natural fats, antioxidants and stabilizers, can be stored for a long time, there are either no such live lactic acid bacteria at all, or very few of them. And cheap vegetable fats, especially artificial additives that extend the shelf life of the product, will obviously not bring any benefit to the body.
Therefore, it is better to buy all the same natural cottage cheese, carefully studying the information on the product packaging. Or learn how to cook it from milk, especially since it is not at all difficult.
