Published: 08/12/2015
The food industry has reached such a level of development that it easily solves the problems of saving products and their optimal use. But at the same time, this medal for scientific achievements also has back side: Not all industrial products are as healthy and safe for health as natural ones. The use of new components and their complex combinations make packaged food more attractive, more convenient, and most importantly, cheaper than dishes prepared according to traditional recipes. But such a rational approach often results in the harmful effects of modified food.
One of the most profitable and therefore widespread ways to reduce the cost of food production is to replace natural animal and vegetable oils with cheaper analogues. True, it’s a stretch to call them analogues, because the properties of these fats do not at all correspond to the required quality, and some of them can cause quite significant harm to the human body. For example, cheap and versatile, but rather peculiar palm oil.
Where is palm oil used?
Palm oil is used in the production of dairy and confectionery products. Some manufacturers also add it to baby food.
On supermarket shelves, palm oil can often be found in the following products: butter, margarine, spreads, condensed milk, dry cream, sour cream, ice cream, buns, cookies, crackers, salty and sweet crackers, muffins, rolls and other confectionery products, chocolate, nut, vanilla spreads, cheese and other dairy products.
Palm oil has the property of improving the taste and appearance product, and also significantly increase shelf life.
One of the key characteristics of palm oil is heat melting, 38–40 degrees. Therefore, cakes and cakes containing this oil do not lose their shape even in hot weather.
Cottage cheese, sour cream
Taste and appearance:
“Refractory vegetable fat (palm, coconut) feels like a greasy film on the tongue after you have eaten a spoonful of cottage cheese or sour cream. After all, its melting point is 39˚C, it does not completely dissolve in the mouth, like milk fats, which melt at 28-32˚C,” says Larisa ABDULLAYEVA, executive secretary of the Russian Dairy Union. Carry out an experiment: leave at room temperature plate with cottage cheese. If it has weathered, become covered with a yellow crust, and has not changed its taste or smell, most likely it was not without “palm”. Retained color and started to sour? Natural product!
On the package:*
Cottage cheese made in accordance with GOST R 52096-2003 should not contain plant components. For sour cream, the law is GOST R 52092-2003.
Cheese
Taste and appearance:
Cheese made from milk fat substitute (MFS) has a mild “soapy” taste. Cheese that is too elastic or, on the contrary, crumbles under the knife (this does not apply to Parmesan) is probably made on a plant basis. Natural cheese under the sun's rays becomes soft and loses its elasticity, while “vegetable” cheese, on the contrary, turns out to be denser, with large fatty drops appearing on its surface.
On the package:*
There should be no “palm tree” in anything made in accordance with GOST R 52686-20-06. In addition, choose cheeses that are packaged in production rather than packaged in stores - they often shorten the actual list of ingredients.
Ice cream
Taste and appearance:
“Leave the ice cream on the plate at room temperature. The real thing will gradually soften, maintaining its shape, and the “vegetable” will not melt for a long time, and then will become a transparent liquid,” advises L. Abdullaeva.
On the package:*
Look for a link to GOST R 52175-2003.
Oil
Taste and appearance:
When real butter melts in a frying pan, white films and foam remain on its surface. When melted, oil from ZMZh turns into a homogeneous liquid. When you eat a sandwich with a pseudo-creamy product, there is a feeling that your teeth are “stuck” in it. 100% butter melts gently, leaving no plaque on your teeth or tongue.
On the package:*
GOST R 52969-2008
Condensed milk
Taste and appearance:
“Up to 70% of condensed milk producers add vegetable fats to it, but this is impossible to determine by taste due to large quantity sugar,” says Roman GAYDASHOV, food expert at the Consumer Rights Protection Society. “Buy only those cans that contain nothing except sugar and milk, because to disguise the “palm tree” you definitely need taste improvers, flavorings, and stabilizers.”
On the package:*
The absence of a link to GOST R 53436-2009 almost always means that you bought the product on vegetable oils. In boiled condensed milk, substitution of fats is even more common - up to 95% of all products.
Milk, Kefir, Ryazhenka
Taste and appearance:
“You don’t have to be afraid to find vegetable equivalents of milk fat in these products,” says L. Abdullaeva. “Technologically, it is difficult to replace fats in drinking milk and kefir, and therefore unprofitable - a package of “vegetable” fermented baked milk will cost twice as much.”
* The main thing that indicates the presence of a milk fat substitute is the word “product” on the label. If you have a curd or condensed “product” in front of you, it is made on the basis of ZMZH.
A columnist for our newspaper inspected the quality of cottage cheese in stores and markets in the North-Eastern district of Moscow.
“What a shame! Year after year, you have breakfast with healthy and natural cottage cheese, and then suddenly find out that it has always been stuffed with chemicals. In order to increase the weight of the product, to give it a creamy consistency, greedy manufacturers add refined or modified starch to its composition. And these are fatty cells, stomach upsets, blockage of blood vessels. You can expose “starchy” cottage cheese at home with the help of a drop of iodine...” - this is how his “curd report” begins. Want to know what happened next? Read! :)
What color is right
Vladimir Kuzin, the chief veterinarian for the North-Eastern Administrative District, says:
- You need to drop 2-3 drops of Lugol’s solution (in common parlance, iodine solution) onto a teaspoon of cottage cheese. If starch is not contained, the product will be colored Brown color. If starch is present, then different shades of blue color. When a new batch of cottage cheese is brought to the market, it is always tested in our laboratory. But, alas, manufacturers often work not according to GOST, but according to specifications, so they have the right to change the composition and add additional ingredients. It is also necessary to distinguish between “cottage cheese” and “curd product”. In the second case, the standards are different, not so strict.
How much specific starch is in cottage cheese and its origin can only be determined by a professional and only in a laboratory. This cannot be done at home. After all, ordinary iodine, which is sold in pharmacies, differs in concentration from our solution. But even ordinary iodine will record the starch content, albeit with errors.
“Otborny” is starchier than “Krestyansky”
I go to the Yaroslavl market, which is on Mira Avenue, 122 bldg. 1. And here is a smiling grandmother with 5 types of cottage cheese.
- Real rustic. Only milk and special bacteria. We make it ourselves on the farm! - she praises. –
For a hundred rubles I take from her 150 grams of creamy “select” and the same amount of grainy “peasant”.
Then I stopped at Auchan on Sheremetyevskaya Street. There I took three packages of cottage cheese: two from GOST and one famous brand baby food.
Now go home and check.
“Peasant” cottage cheese turns brown after a drop of iodine. Passed the test? But no. After a couple of minutes, the piece becomes covered with a blue speck. It was like he had chickenpox.
I'll try Selected. At first, the brown spot gradually turns blue and becomes a beautiful heavenly color.
I'm starting with baby cottage cheese. Wow! Well, at least this one is okay. Brown spot without any impurities.
Next up are two GOST products. Everything they do is honorable. There is a certificate, the composition is indicated, there is no talk of starch. However... One immediately turned black Blue colour. But the second one remained brown for about an hour. Only when I was about to throw it away did a barely noticeable treacherous blue appear on it.
Go away with your iodine
My next stop was the Lianozovsky market near the platform of the same name. Here I tested cottage cheese without leaving the cash register, as they say. There was a scandal
-Can I try it first? - I ask and get permission from the seller. I pinch off a little with a plastic spoon and then drop in iodine.
- What are you doing there? What are you checking? That's all best quality, what starch? You'll ruin everything for me. Go well! – the lady drives me away. I had to retreat. And the cottage cheese that I managed to pinch off did not turn blue as a result. There was no reason for the saleswoman to be afraid.
So what do we have in the end? Only children's cottage cheese and cottage cheese from the Lianozovsky market passed the test 100%.
(c) Egor PEREZHOGIN
Photos were taken by the author of the text :) 
Cottage cheese is a product that is very popular not only among buyers, but also among unscrupulous manufacturers. Fortunately, there are quite simple and reliable ways to check the quality of fresh cottage cheese at home.
“Milk” and cottage cheese, among other things, began to be counterfeited back in Soviet times. But these days, adulteration of this popular dietary product has become a widespread phenomenon. According to Rospotrebnadzor, cottage cheese is the second most frequently counterfeit product after butter. The most common “additives” to cottage cheese, which affect its reduction in price, are starch and vegetable fat, and less often – chalk and soda. Experts from the publication “Easy Together” spoke about how not to make a mistake when choosing cottage cheese.
Reading the ingredients and counting the bacteria
Carefully read the cottage cheese label before purchasing.
Be sure to pay attention to the lactic acid bacteria count indicator. It should be at least 1x106 CFU per 1 g.
Natural cottage cheese contains only dairy products and sourdough. Acceptable use calcium chloride, pepsin.
Real cottage cheese has a short shelf life (36 hours), and differs depending on the fat content.
If the cottage cheese is loose, then evaluate its color, moisture, smell and taste. It’s also worth asking about the shelf life: only curd products can be stored for three days or longer.
Home laboratory
The purchase has been made, but you still have doubts about its naturalness? At home, it is easy to conduct reliable tests for the presence of non-dairy components in cottage cheese. There are several such methods.
1. Test of time. A small amount of cottage cheese should be left for 8–10 hours at room temperature. Milk fats oxidize very quickly when exposed to air. As a result, the deposited lump should acquire a strong sour smell. If instead the lump turns yellow and crusty, there is most likely an excess of palm oil in the curd.
2. Iodine will indicate starch. Just a couple of drops is enough. If the cottage cheese turns blue, the iodine has reacted with the starch added to the cottage cheese.
3. The presence of chalk and soda will be revealed by acid. This method is not always effective, since chalk could have been added not to the final product, but to the milk from which the cottage cheese is made. However, you can try to identify the chalk. A teaspoon of cottage cheese should be diluted in a small amount of water (about a third of a glass), then add a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice. Chalk or soda, if present in the composition, will react with the acid, and carbon dioxide will begin to be released. Simply put, the liquid will hiss and bubbles will appear.
After tasting cottage cheese, does there remain a feeling of an oily film on your tongue? This means that there is a high probability of replacing milk fat with vegetable fat. Give this mixture to your pet to try. If the cat or dog does not appreciate the treat, then most likely the product contains a lot of palm oil. Finally, the consistency can also indicate “vegetable” cottage cheese: natural product it is grainy, while unnatural is more homogeneous.
We all know that real cottage cheese- an incredibly useful product. Sometimes you buy cottage cheese, but it is completely tasteless. But if you season it with milk, sand or sour cream, it’s okay, you can eat it. Cottage cheese is often counterfeited and becomes harmful. So let’s not let ourselves be deceived, and let’s learn to choose the most delicious, high-quality and healthy cottage cheese.
How to choose good cottage cheese and not bad one?
Optimal fat content
The healthiest cottage cheese is medium-fat (up to 9 percent) or low-fat. The choice depends on your weight and your dietary preferences. For overweight and elderly people, low-fat cottage cheese with a fat content of 0 to 3 percent is more relevant.
Cottage cheese contains saturated fatty acid. Frequent consumption of fatty cottage cheese (18 - 20%) will contribute to the development of early atherosclerosis.
Children are not recommended to eat fatty cottage cheese; it is better to choose one containing a medium amount of fat. For older people, less than 5 percent cottage cheese is useful.
If there are no contraindications, such as liver disease, obesity, it is better to choose classic cottage cheese with a fat content of 9 and 18 percent. 100 grams of such cottage cheese completely provides the calcium requirement per day.
Which cottage cheese has the best consistency?
Cottage cheese, crumbly in consistency, consists of highly hydrolyzed proteins. To assimilate such protein, more energy will be required, and it will not be completely absorbed.
Cottage cheese with a soft, viscous consistency is better digestible. This type of cottage cheese usually has a milky color. Real cottage cheese smells only of milk, no foreign odors. A good product contains more potassium, which removes excess water from the body.
Cottage cheese tends to have more sodium than usual. This cottage cheese also contains cream, although the fat content is low.
Taste of real cottage cheese
The rule applies to cottage cheese: less sour - more healthy.
The usual acidity of cottage cheese is 225 degrees on the Turner scale. 225 degrees indicates that this product is dietary. For children, the ideal sour product is 150 degrees, the norm for the elderly is 175.
Cottage cheese that is too sour means that it has probably expired. An unpleasant, greasy taste in the mouth indicates that palm oil has been added to the curd.
The taste of cottage cheese depends primarily on its fat content, so be sure to look at the fat content in the product. Low-fat cottage cheese is usually crumbly with low fat content and whey. Its taste may seem empty. Classic cottage cheese with 4 to 18 percent fat content is much tastier. It has a soft plastic consistency and is therefore ideal for casseroles.
Which cottage cheese is better to choose for a child?
Children are the most precious thing we have, therefore, when taking care of their health, it is worth choosing the best. From all of the above, we can conclude that good healthy cottage cheese should be softer, less sour and not greasy. For children, it is better to choose cottage cheese with a medium fat content (up to 9 percent). For casseroles, classic cottage cheese with a fat content of 4 to 18 percent is ideal. The acidity level of the product is 150 degrees. It is better to drip cottage cheese in a package rather than in bulk - it can be dangerous (see below).
How to determine whether cottage cheese is real or fake?
Pay attention to the label
Real cottage cheese should contain only milk and sourdough. Some manufacturers, to save money, dilute the cottage cheese with water and add starch for thickness. You can check this fact using a regular alcohol tincture of iodine. Add a drop of iodine to the cottage cheese. If it turns blue, it means the cottage cheese contains starch.
Choosing fermented milk product look for the inscription on the package “Cottage cheese”, but not “Curd cheese” or “Curd dessert”. Good cottage cheese has the GOST mark (state standard), the TU mark means that the cottage cheese is prepared according to the technical conditions developed by the manufacturer himself.
Expensive and cheap
If the cottage cheese is made from whole milk through conventional ripening, such cottage cheese will be expensive. Cheap cottage cheese is almost guaranteed to contain palm oil, skim milk, and other additives.
Vegetable fats are added to cottage cheese to reduce the cost of this product. Many producers are forced to do this due to a shortage of dairy raw materials. Willy-nilly, we have to become more sophisticated and replace the product, instead cow's milk use fat substitutes and even soy.
The color of real cottage cheese
Real cottage cheese is pure white. Yellow curd almost certainly contains dyes. These can be either harmless dyes, for example, beta-carotene, which is even beneficial for humans, or chemical dyes, which are unsafe for health. The pinkish tint of the cottage cheese indicates the vigorous growth of microorganisms. That's why we buy only white cottage cheese.
Why is cottage cheese by weight dangerous?
Some loose curd products are not only tasteless, but also dangerous due to the high content of mold and coli. They often use palm fat instead of milk.
Good cottage cheese by weight: does not smell of yeast, does not taste acidic and does not have a distinct graininess, friability, there should be a good neutral smell.
Problems: Bacteria often develop as a result of improper storage and transportation.
Cottage cheese sold by weight has the most short term shelf life - only 36 hours.
Research shows that 85 percent of large dairies add vegetable fats to cottage cheese. Often this is a curd product and not cottage cheese, which is either not indicated or skillfully disguised on the packaging. In the case of cottage cheese by weight, this fact is especially difficult for the average buyer to track.
How to check the quality of cottage cheese? Any person, and especially a bodybuilder, a horizontal bar athlete or just an athlete knows that cottage cheese is an inexpensive but healthy product that supplies our body with much-needed and high-quality casein protein (protein). It’s a shame, but more and more complaints are coming from certain cottage cheese lovers that, in pursuit of profit, manufacturers add starch, palm oil, and other “chemicals” to cottage cheese, and do not write anything on the label of this product that it contains all this abomination.
While we are trying to eat right, remove the hated belly and sagging sides, get rid of fat deposits on the thighs and buttocks, and remain in the naive confidence that we are eating right healthy products, in fact, we are stuffed with all sorts of chemicals, which certainly do not contribute to weight loss. The situation is even more tragic for those people who are trying to pump up muscles, enlarge their arms, build broad shoulders, back and chest through training, and are ready to spend their last money on expensive sports nutrition or the same cottage cheese, hoping to replenish the reserves of amino acids in the body with the help of dairy squirrel. Alas, practice shows that no laws or certifications guarantee us the quality of the products we pay for. Fortunately, if we talk specifically about cottage cheese, we can at least test it for its starch content. To do this, it is enough to carry out a basic test with iodine and its chemical reaction that occurs when combined with a substance such as starch.
Cottage cheese charged with starch, upon contact with iodine, instantly acquires a blue or even purple tint, while ordinary cottage cheese will remain white with brown spots Yoda. I have always been involved in bodybuilding, overcoming many difficulties, both with nutrition and training. To me throughout sports career It was quite difficult to lose belly fat and pump up six-pack abs, so I was horrified when I learned about the starch in cottage cheese! Firstly, starch is a carbohydrate, that is, a product that prevents fat burning, provided that the athlete eats it in excess.
How can you follow a diet and control the correct amount of carbohydrates in an athlete’s diet if your cottage cheese, in addition to protein, turns out to contain an indefinite amount of starch? In addition, if they put starch, then it is likely that they also put palm oil or other useless/harmful additives that are not disclosed on the label.
Help for amateurs gym and just for everyone, I decided to conduct a detailed test for the presence of starch in cottage cheese. Going to the store, I immediately bought thirteen types of cottage cheese and a bottle of iodine. Having laid out the cottage cheese on a dish, I moistened it with iodine, and to my disappointment, 2 types of cottage cheese immediately turned blue, although it was written on the packaging that all the regulations were met, and that starch was not included in the product (more precisely, its presence in the product was not not a single word was said).
And what did the results of such a simple study show?
Cottage cheese "Vkusnoteevo" is low-fat - the test has been passed.
Cottage cheese “From Vologda” (briquette, foil) - low fat - the test is passed.
“House in the Village” 0.2% – test passed.
“Prostokvashino” 2% – test passed.
“President crumbly” 2% – test passed.
Cottage cheese “From Vologda” ( plastic box) low fat – the test is passed.
Low-fat cottage cheese "Ruzsky" - the test has been passed.
Cottage cheese "Dmitrovsky" 1.8% - the test did not pass, it turned a disgusting black and blue color.
Low-fat Ostankino cottage cheese (curd paste in a tube) – the test is passed.
Ostankino cottage cheese in a briquette - the test has been passed.
Cottage cheese "Rostagroexport" 0% - test failed. In appearance, the color was not as terrifying as in the case of “Dmitrovsky” cottage cheese, but still it turned blue.
Homemade cottage cheese by weight (manufacturer unknown, bought at the Perekrestok supermarket) - test passed.
Cottage cheese "Tevye" 18% fat - test passed.
It was cottage cheese Russian manufacturers, but in the same way you can check the quality of any other cottage cheese of any production.
Share the results of your experiment with your friends and acquaintances! Help others make the right choice!
Also, if you know any methods for checking the quality of any other products, I would be grateful if you share this useful information with me!