Kazan experts warn: real cottage cheese does not live long! "Roskontrol" checked the grained cottage cheese What does the label say.

As part of a rolling study, Roskachestvo experts studied cottage cheese with a 9% fat content of 95 major brands, whose combined market share is more than 70%. Tests were carried out on 25 quality and safety indicators. The goods were purchased in the regions of eight Russian federal districts: Far Eastern, Volga, North-Western, North Caucasian, Siberian, Urals, Central and Southern. The cost of cottage cheese at the time of purchase ranged from 34.4 to 200 rubles. per package (the study presented products in packages from 170 to 500 grams) and from 15 to 100 rubles. for 100 grams. According to the test results, the products of 18 brands meet the increased requirements of Roskachestvo, however, 17 of them will be able to apply for the Russian Quality Mark - the 18th cottage cheese, Brest-Litovsky, produced in Belarus.

RUSSIAN QUALITY SYSTEM STANDARD

The standard of the Russian quality system for cottage cheese with a fat content of 9% is identical in its main parameters to the current GOST and has tougher requirements for quality and safety. So, potential applicants for obtaining the State Quality Mark should not contain food additives (stabilizers, acidity regulators, preservatives) and antibiotics, both prohibited by the technical regulations of the Customs Union and trace amounts. The level of localization of production for the award of the Russian Quality Mark for cottage cheese must be at least 85%.

Of course, we are talking about the main violation here - the falsification of the product.

1. Add vegetable oil

Adulteration of dairy products through vegetable fats cannot be called a mass phenomenon. However, we have already encountered isolated cases in the study butter, sour cream and ice cream.

As it turned out, producers of cottage cheese also save on raw materials - milk. Vegetable fats have been found in cottage cheese "BMK", "Merry Meadow"(both - Bryansk region), "Volzhanochka"(Volgograd region), "Vyazemsky"(Khabarovsk region), "Davlekanovo"(Bashkiria), "Good Burenka"(Saratov region), "Milk farm" and "SMK"(Ulyanovsk region). An analysis of the fatty acid composition of this cottage cheese confirmed the results: it really lacks some fatty acids that are inherent in the dairy component.

2. Replace protein with vegetable

To recognize the falsification by the protein, the experts looked for plant DNA in the cottage cheese, that is, vegetable protein. Vegetable protein can end up in dairy products, for example by adding soy concentrate. Found it in cottage cheese "Kamarchagsky"(Krasnoyarsk Territory), as well as in products where we found vegetable fats: "Davlekanovo"(Bashkiria), "Good Burenka"(Saratov region), "Milk farm" and "SMK"(both - Ulyanovsk region).

3. Add starch

There should be nothing in cottage cheese except milk and sourdough. However, some manufacturers seem to think otherwise. So, starch was found in cottage cheese "Volga open spaces"(Ulyanovsk region), "Good Burenka"(Saratov region), « All year round» (Bryansk region), "Lakomo"(Bryansk region), "Milk farm"(Ulyanovsk region), "Ruzskiy"(My "SMK"(Ulyanovsk region).

“Nothing is allowed in the composition of cottage cheese, except for milk and sourdough and, perhaps, an enzyme,” confirms the head of the laboratory of technochemical control of VNIMI, candidate of technical sciences Elena Yurova. - Therefore, if something other than this is found (some kind of stabilizer or preservative), the product is classified as counterfeit. Most likely, the manufacturer does not use starch in its pure form, but as part of a stabilization system (stabilization system. - Ed.). It allows you to "collect" protein, retain moisture and create the necessary structure. There are people who are sensitive to some components of the stabilization system. For example, diabetics: starch is contraindicated for them, this complex carbohydrate negatively affects blood sugar levels. In addition, due to such additives, the amount of protein decreases, that is, the nutritional value of cottage cheese drops sharply. And the protein decreases - the calcium content decreases. We, as consumers, do not want to pay for a less valuable product either.

4. Reduce fat

When you buy cottage cheese with a fat content of 9%, you trust the label: what else to trust? However, in reality it turns out that reality does not always correspond to what is indicated on the packaging.

So, the fat content is lower than indicated in the labeling for cottage cheese "Agrofirm "Lebedevskaya"(Novosibirsk region), "Amka"(Ryazan Oblast), "Baikal cottage cheese"(Irkutsk region), "Baltcom"(Bryansk region), "Belozorie"(Arhangelsk region), "Your choice"(Bryansk region), "Good Nurse"(Kaliningrad region), "Green Meadow"(Novosibirsk region), "Every day"(Bryansk Region), (Primorsky Territory), "All year round"(Bryansk region), "Lakomo"(Bryansk region), "Losevo"(Leningrad region), "Pedigree factory PRINEVSKOE"(Leningrad region), "Severodvinsk-Moloko"(Arhangelsk region), "Farm Yard"(Amur region) and "Farmer-center.rf"(Tomsk region).

Moreover, the fat content of cottage cheese of one of these brands was 3.5%. As you can see, it is much more dietary than indicated on the package.

There were cases when the fat content of cottage cheese was more than 30%! True, such fat content is just for cottage cheese with vegetable fats: "Davlekanovo", "Milk farm" and "SMK".

5. Add Preservatives

During testing sorbic acid was found in curd "Amka"(Ryazan Oblast), "Dmitrogorsk product"(Tver region), "Calorie. From the old village(Krasnodar region), "Ostankino"(Kaluga region), "Savushkin farm"(Belarus) and "SMK"(Ulyanovsk region). By the way, in cottage cheese "Calorie. From the old village benzoic acid was also found, however, it is worth noting that this cottage cheese is not made according to GOST, but according to the organization's own standard.

Mold, yeast and E. coli - how cottage cheese "lives"

There must be bacteria in the curd. But! Only useful (we will talk about them below). Most of the cottage cheese that participated in the study corresponded to this postulate. However, there were exceptions.

• E. coli bacteria found in cottage cheese Burenkino(Kaluga region), "Vaska's happiness"(Tatarstan), "Green leaves"(Primorsky Krai), Peasant economy "Velvet"(Primorsky Krai), "Northern Valley"(Nizhny Novgorod region) and "Farm Yard"(Amur region). Most likely, the reason for the presence of these bacteria is non-compliance with sterile conditions in the workplace. Since the curd is packaged, the likelihood that E. coli got into the curd in another way is very small.
• Excesses for yeast or molds were found in cottage cheese of 14 brands: "Agrofirm "Lebedevskaya"(Novosibirsk region), "Billa"(MO), Burenkino(Kaluga region), "Your choice"(Bryansk region), "Vkusnoteevo"(Voronezh region), "Yours sincerely"(Tver region), "Red Price"(Tver region), "Lakomo"(Bryansk region), "Milava"(Belarus), "Milk Grace"(Sverdlovsk region), "Milk farm"(Ulyanovsk region), "First Taste"(Chelyabinsk region), "PK "Milk"(Tyumen region) and "SMK"(Ulyanovsk region). However, there may be several reasons for these violations: poor quality of raw materials entering the production, violation of the sanitary condition of production, non-compliance with the conditions of transportation, storage or sale of products. One of the main reasons for spoilage of cottage cheese is storage on the counter without observing the temperature regime.

Experts did not find Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and mycotoxins in the curd.

Now for the good bacteria.

Or rather, useful ones. After all, in fact, cottage cheese is eaten precisely for the sake of them (and for the sake of protein, of course). How much healthy cottage cheese, can be found by counting the number of lactic acid microorganisms. There must be at least a million of them per cubic centimeter!

Least of all lactic acid bacteria in cottage cheese "Vkusnoteevo"(Voronezh region), GreenAgro(Primorsky Krai), "Every day"(Bryansk region), "Kirzhach Dairy Plant"(Vladimir region), "Kosulinsky milk"(Sverdlovsk region), "First Taste"(Chelyabinsk region), "Polevskoye"(Sverdlovsk region), "Stozhok"(Chelyabinsk region) and "Farmer-center.rf"(Tomsk region). The cottage cheese listed is not as healthy as the cottage cheese of other brands.

However, responsible secretary of the technical committee for standards for dairy products TK 470 / MTK 532, head of the standardization group of the Dairy Union of Russia, candidate of technical sciences Larisa Abdullaeva"Standed up" for such cottage cheese and urged not to consider this violation terrible:

- Recently, the issue of rationing the beneficial lactic microflora in cottage cheese has been discussed at the site of the Eurasian Economic Commission, and at the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, and at the industry institute VNIMI. Many experts in the field of milk and dairy products supported the reduction of the current legislation on the content of lactic acid microorganisms in curds made using new production methods. Modern equipment for the production of cottage cheese involves its automated production in special containers that are heated to better separate the whey. Such heating, of course, destroys an insignificant part of the microflora, but such curd becomes more crumbly, it has less moisture, which means that there is no environment for the development of harmful microorganisms. Such cottage cheese is safe and popular with consumers for its special crumbly texture. Therefore, I would not “demonize” those cottage cheese samples in which there is a little “not enough” lactic acid bacteria, this is not the worst violation for cottage cheese produced in an industrial production line.

About which cottage cheese is the most useful, read .

Important note: unfortunately, the high number of beneficial bacteria cannot compensate for the safety violations that are committed by some cottage cheese manufacturers. Therefore, the results should always be looked at as a whole.

The number of beneficial lactic acid microorganisms in cottage cheese decreases with storage. Therefore, when buying, pay attention to the date of manufacture and shelf life. The fresher the cottage cheese, the healthier it is.

Both useful and saves from diseases: cottage cheese with antibiotics

To prevent cows from getting sick or when they are already sick, many farmers resort to antibiotics. If you violate the rules for the use of these drugs, antibiotics can pass into milk. And already from milk - raw materials - into cottage cheese or any other product of dairy origin.

Among the 95 studied brands of cottage cheese, 11 violations were found. Excesses in antibiotics of the amphenicol group were recorded in cottage cheese "BMK", "Merry Meadow"(both - Bryansk region), "Village Milk Factory"(Kemerovo region) and "Kamarchagsky"(Krasnoyarsk region); tetracycline group - in cottage cheese "Green Meadow"(Novosibirsk region), "Savushkin farm"(Belarus), "Severodvinsk-Moloko"(Arkhangelsk region) and "Tulsky"(Tula region); penicillins - in cottage cheese "Kuban milkman"(Krasnodar region); tetracycline group and penicillins together - in cottage cheese "Good Nurse"(Kaliningrad region) and "Shepherd"(Kabardino-Balkaria).

More than half of the brands tested contained trace amounts of antibiotics in the curd, but all of these amounts did not exceed the limits established by law. Therefore, formally, the producers of these goods are not considered violators, but such cottage cheese will not be able to qualify for the Russian Quality Mark.

“Residues of veterinary drugs, including antibiotics, controlled in dairy products are so small that they can only be determined in milk with very sophisticated laboratory methods,” notes Larisa Abdullaeva. – At the same time, the sensitivity of such research methods should also be very high (for example, at the level of three ten-thousandths of a milligram in one kilogram of the product, in particular, for chloramphenicol). Such accurate modern laboratory equipment is unfortunately not available at all dairies. Most often leftovers medicines appear in the product from the milk of those cows that were treated. By law, such milk should not be supplied to the plant at all. And cottage cheese producers would be incredibly happy if absolutely pure milk came to their factory, without any residues of any veterinary drugs! But, alas, they have no power over veterinarians and their laboratories are not always able to determine the microscopic remains of a wide range of antibiotics used to treat animals. The question of the use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine and control raw milk its safety must be addressed at the farm level. And now, unfortunately, in animal husbandry there is a certain “lack of control” in the use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine, and one of the suppliers decided not to comply with the prescriptions of veterinarians, simply chasing profit. The plant, having checked the milk according to all legislative indicators, unfortunately, did not notice such a low concentration of the antibiotic in raw milk.

Doctor of Medical Sciences, nutritionist, reflexologist Mariyat Mukhina talked about why antibiotics in products harm the human body:

- If you regularly consume dairy products with such an "additive", then the sensitivity of bacteria to drugs decreases. Antibiotics, which are contained in dairy products and enter our body from them, “train” bacteria and viruses. And those become antibiotic-resistant, immune to the action of drugs. In the future, in case of illness, antibiotics prescribed by a doctor may not have the desired effect. Scientists predict that by 2050 not a single antibiotic will “work”! Therefore, the question is now being raised about the prohibition of antibiotic therapy in animal husbandry in principle. As a preventive measure for animal diseases, experts suggest using vaccination.

Quality of milk and sourdough

LEAVEN. For the production of all studied cottage cheese, good quality starter cultures were used: with a microflora characteristic of cottage cheese, without any extraneous cells in it.

MILK. To assess the quality of the milk used to make cottage cheese, experts determined the mass fraction of SOMO.

SOMO- dry skimmed milk residue. The higher the score, the more quality product. In turn, a low SOMO may indicate either that low-quality milk was used for the production of cottage cheese, or that part of the product was replaced by some additives (for example, water, starch or other thickeners).

Low rates of SOMO are recorded in cottage cheese "Good Burenka"(Saratov region), "Milk farm" and "SMK"(both - Ulyanovsk region). In all cases, the story with additives is confirmed. These products contain vegetable fats and starch.

By the way, the cottage cheese "Good Burenka" has already been studied by Roskachestvo. Then vegetable fats and reduced SOMO were also found in it. We did not find starch in this cottage cheese before. But starch and reduced SOMO were found in kefir of this brand.

Was raw or pasteurized milk used to make curd? In 94 cases - pasteurized. And only in the cottage cheese of one brand - "Irbitsky"(Sverdlovsk region) - peroxidase was discovered (enzyme. - Note. ed.). This suggests that the milk from which the cottage cheese is made is most likely partially pasteurized. Tells Elena Yurova:

- This is a serious violation. If peroxidase is found in the curd, it means that the milk has undergone insufficient heat treatment, this product could contain residual microflora. And the microflora can be different, including pathogenic or conditionally pathogenic. According to the law, cottage cheese must be made from pasteurized milk and undergo heat treatment. If a person eats a product made from milk with insufficient heat treatment, he may be poisoned. And if infections remained in it (the cow was sick with something), then the consequences can be completely unpredictable.

As follows from what we wrote above, there were no problems with microflora specifically in this investigated cottage cheese of the Irbitsky trademark, and we did not find any violations in terms of microbiological indicators here. But if the manufacturer uses partially pasteurized milk, this is a wake-up call for the consumer. What is the probability that all cows - "suppliers" of milk for cottage cheese "Irbitsky" - will be healthy?

The products "House in the village" and "Karat" were included by Roskontrol in the list of goods with comments.

In the grained cottage cheese Karat (4% fat), the actual discrepancy between the protein content and the labeling data was 28% (does not comply with the technical regulations), and the fat content is 14% less than indicated in the labeling. No preservatives or structure stabilizers were found in the product.

The discrepancy between the actual protein content and the labeling data for cottage cheese "House in the Village" was more than 30%, which does not comply with the technical regulations (should not be more than 15%), while the product is safe according to the studied indicators, does not contain thickeners and vegetable fats. The product's packaging states that it contains a preservative, so it is a "curd product" and not curd. Since there is a corresponding indication on the packaging, this is not a violation.

Cottage cheese brands "Zalessky Farmer", "Milava" and "Izbenka" were blacklisted by Roskontrol for "deceiving the consumer."

The reason for this was that the grained cottage cheese "Milava" and "Izbenka" contain the preservative sorbic acid, which is not indicated on the packaging of the product, and "Zalessky Farmer" in addition to this preservative contains starch. The information on the fat content of the product under the brand name "Zalessky Farmer" does not correspond to the labeling: with the declared fat content of 5%, its actual fat content was 8.5%.

The lack of information about the preservative in the composition of the product is a serious violation, experts say.

The representative of the PR service of Vkusvill, Marina Purim, in response to a request from RBC, said that the company conducts systematic product quality control.

“During 2017, we conducted four tests of the product “Granular cottage cheese “Izbenka” 4%”, in particular, for the presence of preservatives. And there have never been any violations, ”she said, noting that the product meets the requirements normative documentation and the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union.

According to her, the product was also analyzed for preservatives, among which there is sorbic acid mentioned in the Roskontrol study. “Everywhere is negative. We have no reason to doubt the quality of products from this supplier, but we will organize an extraordinary quality check,” Purim said.

On February 22, Zalessky Farmer LLC explained to RBC that they did not agree with the information published by Roskontrol regarding the grained cottage cheese of their production. “We can confidently state that the quality of our grained cottage cheese fully complies with all the requirements of GOST 31534-2012 and technical regulations Customs Union 033/2013, according to which it was developed. We do not add any additional ingredients, which are not included in the composition indicated on the label, so we absolutely do not agree with the information published on the website of the Roskontrol organization, ”RBC was told.

RBC also sent a request to Balmiko Torg ( trademark"Milava").

- an important component diet food. This milk product it is recommended to use to fill the protein deficiency, normalize metabolism, strengthen the skeletal system, in diets for weight loss.

The inclusion of cottage cheese in the daily menu to maintain health is relevant for customers of all ages, which is why the quality of this product is so important.

Unfortunately, out of ten cottage cheese samples tested at Test-St. Petersburg in the spring of 2017, only four turned out to be fully compliant with GOST as a regulatory document indicated on their label.

At the same time, two samples that did not pass the examination were called counterfeit due to the detection of non-dairy fats in them.

Vegetable fats, according to GOST 31453-2013 “Cottage cheese. Specifications” and the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union “On the safety of milk and dairy products” cannot be included in the product under the name “cottage cheese”. Non-dairy components may be part of the so-called "curd products", but their presence must be indicated on the packaging.

Curd quality indicators

The amount of protein in cottage cheese- one of the most important indicators of its quality, since it is this component that determines the value of the product for health. Protein below the norm - evidence of exceeding the permissible level of humidity and the addition of ingredients of plant origin. In accordance with GOST 31453-2013, the less fat the product contains, the more its protein component should be: cottage cheese with a fat content of 1.8 to 3.8% must contain at least 18% protein, a fat content of 4 to 9% - at least 16 % protein, fat content 12% and above - not less than 14% protein.

Organoleptic indicators- taste, color, smell, texture - are also important when choosing a product. In half of the tested samples, they turned out to be inconsistent with GOST, which, according to experts, is due to the low quality of raw materials, violations of production technology and non-compliance with storage rules.

Fat content of cottage cheese- an important indicator for dieters. Incorrect indication of the amount of fat in the three tested samples is misleading and may lead to unintentional eating disorders.

The results of an independent examination of cottage cheese made in accordance with GOST 31453-2013

PRODUCT	MANUFACTURER	WEIGHT, g	PRICE per package, rub.	TASTE, SMELL, CONSISTENCY	FAT	PROTEIN	MOISTURE	VEGETABLE FAT	COMPLIANCE WITH GOST
	Piskarevsky Dairy Plant LLC, St. Petersburg	250	70-89	corresponds	corresponds	corresponds	corresponds	NO	corresponds
With mass fraction th fat 9%	JSC "Laktis", Veliky Novgorod	200	71-39	corresponds	corresponds	corresponds	corresponds	NO	corresponds
Cottage cheese TM "Selo Zelenoe" with a mass fraction of fat 5%	OJSC Milkom, Udmurt Republic, Izhevsk	200	59-50	corresponds	corresponds	corresponds	corresponds	NO	corresponds
Cottage cheese TM "Sudarynya" with a mass fraction of fat 5%		200	59-60	corresponds	corresponds	corresponds	corresponds	NO	corresponds
Cottage cheese TM "Baltkom" with a mass fraction of fat 9%	OOO Baltkom Uni, Moscow, production: Bryansk region	180	57-85	corresponds	corresponds	below normal	corresponds	NO	does not correspond to the mass fraction of protein
Cottage cheese TM "First business" with a mass fraction of fat 5%	OOO Lakto-Novgorod, Novgorod region	180	49-67		corresponds	corresponds	humidity above normal	NO	does not correspond to the organoleptic properties and mass fraction of moisture
Cottage cheese TM "Ladon" with a mass fraction of fat 5%	Bologovsky Dairy Plant OJSC, Tver region, Bologoye	180	66-31	taste and smell are not pure enough	corresponds	below normal	above the norm	NO	does not correspond to the organoleptic properties, mass fraction of moisture and protein
with a mass fraction of fat 12%	Dairy business - Ivnya LLC, Moscow, production: Chuvash Republic	200	70-90	the taste and smell are not pure enough, with the presence of a slight foreign smell and taste	below normal	corresponds	corresponds	NO	does not correspond to the organoleptic properties and mass fraction of fat
Cottage cheese TM "Red Price" with a mass fraction of fat 5%	LLC "Delta", St. Petersburg	180	36-60	taste and smell are not clean enough, sweetish	above the norm	corresponds	corresponds	DISCOVERED 35%	does not correspond in terms of organoleptic properties, mass fraction of fat and composition of the fatty phase - vegetable fat is detected
Cottage cheese with a mass fraction of fat 1.8% "From Peasant"	Trade Line LLC, St. Petersburg	180	57-98	taste and smell are not pure enough, with a strongly pronounced foreign smell and taste	10 times higher than normal	below normal	corresponds	DISCOVERED 75%	does not correspond in terms of organoleptic properties, mass fraction of fat and protein, in terms of the composition of the fatty phase - vegetable fat was detected

The data obtained by the experts refer only to tested samples, and not to all similar products of manufacturers.

How to choose cottage cheese

Refusing to purchase products at too low a price is not a panacea for buying a fake. Often, falsified cottage cheese is sold as a product of the middle price category.

Experts advise choosing cottage cheese from proven manufacturers, whose dairy products have repeatedly withstood laboratory tests with honor.

Isabella Satukhina based on the materials of the St. Petersburg Public Organization of Consumers "Public Control"

Milk is a source of calcium, useful enzymes, fatty acids, vitamins, it has antitoxic properties, has a beneficial effect on digestion and the nervous system. This is what nutritionists and product manufacturers say.

True, it is impossible to get real fresh milk in a big city: it cannot be sold. Therefore, instead of it, we are offered “pasteurized”, “sterilized”, “ultra-pasteurized”. Consumers are sure: there are no vitamins, but on the contrary, it is full of “chemistry”. Is it really? Experts of the Union of Consumers "Roskontrol" sent to the laboratory UHT milk with a fat content of 3.2% of the brands "House in the Village", "Avida", "Prostokvashino", "Sarafanovo", "Ostankinskoye", "Green Village", Valio.

What is "ultra-pasteurization"?

The word that consumers usually understand as "killing all life" is ultra-pasteurization. In fact, this is a process of very fast processing of raw milk with steam at a temperature of 130 - 150 degrees. This allows you to save vitamins, mineral salts and valuable enzymes in the product. But the vast majority of microbes in milk after that no longer survive. And this is to our advantage: it is not necessary to boil it additionally before use. Otherwise, you will lose useful substances.

By the way, manufacturers claim that it is ultra-pasteurization (and not preservatives) that gives milk a chance to be stored for several months. The examination confirmed this: no preservatives were found in any of the samples.

How intensive was the processing of milk in production can be judged by the mass concentration of lactulose. The higher it is, the stronger was the thermal effect on the product. Judging by the results of the research, the producers treated Prostokvashino milk most carefully, the concentration of lactulose in the Sarafanovo sample was the highest.

— The safety requirements for UHT milk are the same as for sterilized milk. The expiration dates match. The enzymatic system of raw milk is completely destroyed during such processing. A large part of water-soluble vitamins is destroyed. Fat-soluble vitamins are mostly preserved. For ultra-pasteurization, just as for sterilization, the quality of milk and its heat resistance are important, therefore, in the technology of such products, the use of phosphates is allowed - salts that make it possible to increase the heat resistance of milk by improving its buffering, which protects milk proteins from their denaturation during elevated temperatures, explains chief expert of Roscotrol Svetlana Dimitrieva.

No protein, no calcium?

According to the norms in 100 grams cow's milk should be 120 mg of calcium. Actually, it is for him that we drink milk. But, apparently, manufacturers forgot about such an important quality of milk. In all tested samples, it is somewhat less: from 100 mg in Avida milk to 114 mg in Prostokvashino.

But another check - for the presence of vegetable fats (and therefore gross falsification) - pleased the experts. They were not found in any sample. Actually, like antibiotics. Therefore, all tested samples can be considered safe for health.

And, it would seem, everything is going too rosy with this product. But it was not there. There were a number of comments to the test participants after all. Not all manufacturers are correct nutritional value its products. In most of the samples (except for Prostokvashino and Sarafanov), there was less protein than stated. For "House in the Village" it turned out to be included in the list with comments, since the protein in this milk turned out to be even less than it should be according to GOST and what the technical regulations prescribe.

“The sample “House in the Village” does not meet the identification criteria TR TS 033/2013 for the name “milk”: the mass fraction of protein is below the permissible level, even taking into account the measurement error,” adds S. Dimitrieva.

The experts were not too pleased with the organoleptic characteristics of the samples. Only the products of the House in the Village and Valio brands did not cause any complaints. So, in the milk of Prostokvashino and Selo Zelenoe, the experts felt a salty taste, in Avida - fodder, in Selo Zeleny, Sarafanovo and Ostankinskoe - the smell and taste of boiling.

In general, the results of the examination can be called satisfactory. Only 1 sample out of 7 is in the list of products with comments, the rest are recommended for purchase.

Of the products that are presented on the shelves of retail chains, seven samples of 9% cottage cheese were selected for today's tasting at the Union of Consumers of the Republic of Tatarstan. Among them was cottage cheese of only one Tatarstan brand. The tasting and the accompanying instrumental check showed that all samples, in principle, there is You can, but not all are equally tasty and healthy.

In addition to the sample from Prosto Moloko, they tasted cottage cheese produced by the Torzhok Dairy Plant Tvertsa, Selo Zelenoe (Izhevsk OJSC Milkom), Every Day (LLC Baltkom Uni, Bryansk Region), President (JSC Efremov Butter and Cheese Plant, Tula Region), SMK - Simbirsk Dairy Company (LLC MolAvto, Ulyanovsk Region) and Kirzhachsky Dairy Plant (KMZ).

The correspondent of Vechernaya Kazan also joined the experts from the Union of Consumers of the Republic of Tatarstan, the National Institute of Quality, the Veterinary Academy and the Technological University. Unlike specialists who know exactly what the right cottage cheese should have in taste, smell, color and texture, I had to evaluate product samples only on the principle of “like it or not”. Surprisingly, it is a fact: the assessment of an ordinary consumer, that is, mine, completely coincided with the opinion of professionals.

The tasters could not decide whose cottage cheese is better - local or Tula: "Prosto Moloko" and "President" scored the same, the highest number of points for taste, color and texture. True, the experts had a claim to the curd of the Prosto Moloko brand. It turns out that whey during storage can only be separated from fat-free cottage cheese, and bold should keep the brand and not “leak”. But in a two hundred gram package of a characteristic of blue color gurgled-overflowed at least a tablespoon of whey ...

Cottage cheese from Kirzhach received a little less points, however, after the official announcement of the results of the tasting, the commodity expert of the Union of Consumers of the Republic of Tatarstan Roza Nizamutdinova turned to her colleague Iraida Bursanova and unofficially stated:

Real cottage cheese - Kirzhachsky!

And Bursanova nodded:

Of course.

Despite the fact that the sample of Selo Zelenoe brand cottage cheese from Izhevsk did not taste or look natural and scored the lowest score from the tasters, a laboratory examination carried out on the spot showed that it does not contain either starch or palm oil , which manufacturers often use to reduce the cost of goods.

But the Ulyanovsk cottage cheese of the SMK brand, which slightly outstripped Selo Zelenoe in terms of points, turned out to be not quite natural. Under the ultraviolet rays of a luminoscope, instead of bright yellow, it acquired a slight purple hue. Suspecting something was wrong, the experts dropped iodine on the cottage cheese - and the drop turned blue, giving out the starch mixed with the product.

The remaining samples "shone" correctly, and the iodine test passed with dignity - upon contact with cottage cheese, it retained its brown color.

Since ordinary buyers not only cannot put cottage cheese in a luminoscope before buying, but even drip iodine on it, the head of the Center for Independent Expertise of the National Institute of Quality Tanzilya Musina gave advice on what to focus on when choosing a product:

Natural cottage cheese has a short shelf life - it is stored no longer than 72 hours, it is better not to take a “long-playing” product. A grayish tint indicates that the cottage cheese in the store is stale, it is also better not to take it, even if the expiration date has not yet passed. The price of cottage cheese is not the main sign of quality.

Experts also assured the VK correspondent that the horror stories about the harm to health of palm oil, which unscrupulous producers flavor with cottage cheese, have no serious grounds: this fact has not been proven. However, the damage to the purse of the buyer and the unscrupulous desire to cash in on manufacturers offering milk-containing products under the guise of cottage cheese with enticing names like “Homemade”, “Countryside”, “Real”, etc., are obvious. cheap Palm oil has a much higher density than milk fat, so after adding it, the curd product sharply gains weight. And they sell cottage cheese, as you know, by weight.