"Roskontrol" checked the grained cottage cheese. "House in the village", "Prostokvashino" or "Green Village". What kind of cow's milk will not undermine the health of Ulyanovsk citizens Trite, but true

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, real fresh milk can be obtained in big city impossible: 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. It is actually a very fast processing process. raw milk steam with 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 at elevated temperatures, — explains chief expert of Roscotrol Svetlana Dimitrieva.

No protein, no calcium?

According to the norms, 100 grams of cow's milk should contain 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.

And here is another check - for the presence vegetable fats(which means gross falsification) - the experts were pleased. 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" this turned into being 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 of TR TS 033/2013 with 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 Zelenoye, the experts felt a salty taste, in Avida - fodder, in Selo Zeleny, Sarafanovo and Ostankinskoye - 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.

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 have food additives(stabilizers, acidity regulators, preservatives) and antibiotics, both prohibited by the technical regulations of the Customs Union, and in 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

The falsification of dairy products with the help of 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 of the 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 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 useful 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 have supported the reduction of the current legislative norm on the content of lactic acid microorganisms in cottage cheese 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 cottage cheese 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, the remains of medicines are 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 issue of the use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine and the control of raw milk for its safety should be addressed even 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, starter cultures were used good quality: with 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.

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 quality of milk of well-known Russian brands was checked by experts from the independent quality control system Roskontrol.

As you know, milk is a source of calcium, useful enzymes, fatty acids, vitamins. Milk has antitoxic properties, has a beneficial effect on digestion and the nervous system. Of course, fresh milk is not available to most citizens and, moreover, it is prohibited for sale because of the possibility of preserving and multiplying pathogenic microorganisms in it. On the shelves of Ulyanovsk stores, we see packages and bottles with the inscriptions "pasteurized", "sterilized", "ultra-pasteurized".

Are vitamins preserved in such milk, how safe is it, and has anything extra been added to it? Specialists independent quality control systems "Roskontrol" tested ultra-pasteurized milk with a fat content of 3.2% of the brands House in the Village, Avida, Prostokvashino, Sarafanovo, Ostankinskoye, Selo Zelenoe, Valio.

What is ultrapasteurization?

Ultra-pasteurization is not pasteurization, - explained the chief expert of Roskontrol Svetlana Dimitrieva. - In fact, the main difference from sterilization, which is usually carried out in autoclaves, is that ultrapasteurization uses direct introduction of live steam into the product - bubbling. And sterilization happens almost instantly. 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 UHT, just as for sterilization, the quality of the 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 thermal stability of milk by improving its buffering capacity. This prevents milk proteins from being denatured at elevated temperatures.

What about calcium?

According to reference data, 100 grams of cow's milk should contain 120 mg of calcium. In all tested samples, it turned out to be somewhat less: from 100 mg in Avida milk to 114 mg in Prostokvashino. This is explained by a small amount of calcium salts are lost during processing.

The experts were pleased with the low content of other salts, phosphates, in the tested samples. As a result of past examinations, Roskontrol has repeatedly identified signs of the addition of phosphates to milk. Obviously, manufacturers have made the right conclusions and improved the quality of their products.

What is not found in milk?

None of the samples contain vegetable fats, which are often used to falsify dairy products (more often fatter, and whole milk is relatively rare). Examination did not reveal antibiotics either. All tested samples can be considered safe for health.

Test results

In general, the results of the examination can be called satisfactory. 6 out of 7 tested samples were recommended for purchase. Only Domik v derevne milk did not pass the test, appearing on the list of goods with comments.

Prostokvashino milk received the highest rating of all samples - 75 points. It complies with safety requirements, does not contain vegetable fats. The fatty acid composition of the fatty phase corresponds to milk fat. The sample has a relatively high mass fraction of protein - 3.18%. The mass concentration of lactulose is relatively low.

Milk” “Valio” was rated 73 points. This sample complies with safety requirements, does not contain vegetable fats. The fatty acid composition of the fatty phase of the product corresponds to milk fat. It has good organoleptic properties.

Experts gave 71 points to Sarafanovo milk. This product complies with safety requirements, does not contain vegetable fats. The fatty acid composition of the fatty phase of the product corresponds to milk fat. The sample has a relatively high mass fraction of protein - 3.06%.

Milk "Ostankinskoye" was rated 68 points. It complies with safety requirements, does not contain vegetable fats. The fatty acid composition of the fatty phase of the product corresponds to milk fat. The mass concentration of lactulose is relatively low.

64 points received from the experts of "Roskontrol" milk "Selo Green". It complies with safety requirements, does not contain vegetable fats. The fatty acid composition of the fatty phase of the product corresponds to milk fat.

Avida milk received one point less from the experts. It also meets safety requirements, does not contain vegetable fats. The fatty acid composition of the fatty phase of the product corresponds to milk fat.

A higher score - 67 points - was given to the milk "Domik v derevne". It meets safety requirements, has good organoleptic properties, and does not contain vegetable fats. The fatty acid composition of the fatty phase corresponds to milk fat. The mass concentration of lactulose is relatively low, but ... The milk product "House in the Village" does not correspond to the name "milk" according to the identification criteria of the technical regulation. The fact is that the mass fraction of protein in it is below the permissible level, even taking into account the error. It does not correspond to the marking according to this indicator and GOST 31450-2013 indicated in the marking: the negative deviation was 10%.

In what ways did the manufacturers cheat?

Despite the seemingly rosy picture, there were still some comments to the test participants. So, for example, the experts were not too satisfied 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 Zelenoye, the experts felt a salty taste, in Avida - fodder, in Selo Zeleny, Sarafanovo and Ostankinskoye - the smell and taste of boiling. In addition, not all manufacturers correctly indicated the nutritional value of their products. In most of the samples (except for Prostokvashino and Sarafanov), there was less protein than stated. For "House in the Village" this turned into an entry in the "List of goods 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.

Andrey KORCHAGIN

“The taste and smell of half of the cottage cheese samples do not stand up to criticism and examination. During the quality check, an outright fake was also discovered. This is the verdict of the organization "Public Control".

IT DOES NOT GET BETTER

Ahead is a big holiday, which this year coincides with Workers' Day. Mistresses will cook not only Easter cakes, but also Easter. And for this dish, cottage cheese is important, or rather, good cottage cheese.

The activists decided to check how good it is in St. Petersburg stores. We bought ten samples, sent them for examination to the testing laboratory of FBU "Test-St. Petersburg".

And they were not even very surprised when they found out: only five types of the product did not cause any complaints from experts.

Nutritionists consider cottage cheese to be very useful. However, our examinations have been showing with enviable regularity for several years now that not every cottage cheese can be bought, - they say in the press service of the Public Control.

Every year, specialists from state accredited laboratories identify low-quality and frankly falsified samples. Sends the results to Rospotrebnadzor. They file lawsuits in court. But low-quality cottage cheese does not disappear from the shelves of St. Petersburg stores. Only the ways of deceiving buyers, which are resorted to by unscrupulous manufacturers and sellers, are changing.

An audit in 2010 showed that a third of the samples purchased for examination are counterfeit, that is, they contain non-dairy fats. In 2011, 25% of fakes were detected, in 2012 - 40%. In 2015, this figure dropped to 20%.

THE CHEAPER, THE WORSE?

This year, experts found five samples of cottage cheese out of ten not to meet the requirements.

And one turned out to be a fake at all, - reports Public Control - This is a five percent cottage cheese from Uzlovsky Dairy Plant LLC, in the Tula region. - As part of this fake, according to the Test-St. Petersburg test report, there was no milk fat at all!

This “product” cost in the Sezon store (Marshal Zhukov Ave., 30) suspiciously cheap - 34.50 per pack of 200 g. The quality - or rather, its complete absence - fully corresponded to the price.

“Perhaps, in the process of production of this product, instead of milk fat, its substitute was used,” says Yulia Gramotina, head of the physical and chemical testing sector of FBU Test-S. Petersburg.

Cottage cheese from Uzlovsky Dairy Plant was already on the radar of Public Control in 2014. Then the examination revealed in it a discrepancy with the declared indicators in terms of the mass fraction of fat and protein. And here is a new meeting with a now outright falsification. The manufacturer did not respond to the request of the "Public Control" to comment on the results of the examination.

Perhaps with the regulatory authorities, where the relevant documents were sent, representatives « Uzlovsky Dairy Plant "will be more talkative," they shrug their hands in the "Public Control".

WHY COTTAGE COTTAGE IS SOUR

One sample of the type of cottage cheese did not pass the examination for organoleptic indicators, but simply turned out to be sour in taste. This is the "Red Price", purchased at the Pyaterochka store (Marshal Govorov St., 16). Curd 5%, made in OOO"PC "Obninsk dairy products" in the Kaluga region.

As noted in the protocol, he "impure taste and smell, as well as foreign smell."

The “Live Milk” curd also turned out to have a sour taste (purchased in the O’Key hypermarket, 31 Marshala Zhukov Ave.)

“Perhaps the products were stale in the warehouse of our partner,” says Pavel Grishin, manager of the Trigorskaya Farm farm in the Leningrad Region. - The sour taste of the product indicates a violation of the storage temperature. If it goes beyond plus two to plus six degrees, then the acidity rises. We are responsible for the quality of the shipped products, but we cannot control what happens to it afterwards.

As the manufacturer explains, in large retail chains, goods after unloading for two to three hours can be stored in a warm room. And only then hands reach him, and he gets into the refrigerator. During this time, anything can go wrong.

MANY REASONS

- Production of cottage cheese is a complex process, many factors affect the quality of the final product, - says Yulia Gramotina. - This is not enough good raw materials, and a violation technological process or storage conditions. It is impossible to determine in the laboratory what exactly caused the violation of organoleptic indicators.

According to Anatoly Brusentsev, Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Biotechnology at ITMO Petersburg University, these three reasons sour taste And bad smell you can add one more.

“The manufacturer could have used bad starters,” says Anatoly Brusentsev. - Secondly, the preparation of cottage cheese could go initially spoiled milk, in which there was an extraneous microflora. Thirdly, they could violate the storage conditions. It happens that cottage cheese is frozen for storage. And if it was later thawed several times or did not withstand the temperature of minus 18 degrees set in such cases, then extraneous tastes and odors appear in the product. Finally, it happens that the so-called products from the reserve are added to fresh cottage cheese, something that was stale in the warehouse. Then the old cottage cheese may well spoil the taste and smell of a fresh product.

COMPETENT

"POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS"

Head of the Department for Quality Control of Products and Services on Consumer Requests, St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution "Center for Quality Control of Goods (Products), Works and Services" Larisa SHAPOVALOVA:

Traditional cottage cheese refers to perishable dairy products, which are a favorable environment for the development of microorganisms. Therefore, it becomes potentially dangerous in case of any violations of storage and transportation conditions. Therefore, the buyer should pay special attention to the sanitary condition of the store where dairy products are sold.

On the packaging of cottage cheese, when labeled by the manufacturer, the storage temperature must be indicated, so it makes sense to make sure that the storage conditions in the refrigerated counter are met.

WHAT THE LABEL SAYS

The main component of cottage cheese is whole milk, normalized milk, skimmed milk, reconstituted (from powdered) milk, or mixtures thereof.

Also, cottage cheese contains sourdough.

Often calcium chloride is present in the composition, which contributes to the formation of a clot and an increase in the calcium content in the finished product.

In the production of cottage cheese, rennet is often used, the addition of which allows milk to curdle faster by separating protein components from whey.

What matters is how much fat is in the product. Fat-free cottage cheese contains less than 1.8% fat. The fattest cottage cheese, produced in accordance with GOST, contains more than 23% fat.

BAD BUT FACT

No matter how trite, but the examination of cottage cheese confirmed: well-known and well-established manufacturers have no complaints about the quality. The cottage cheese of five brands fully complied with the requirements of regulatory documents. These are Piskarevsky 5% cottage cheese (St. Petersburg), 5% cottage cheese (Medvezhyegorsk Dairy Plant LLC, Karelia), 9% cottage cheese TM "Family Farm" (Delta LLC, St. Petersburg), 5% cottage cheese TM "First Business" ( LLC "Lakto-Novgorod", Staraya Russa) and cottage cheese 9% TM "SpbFERMA" (LLC "SPb FERMA", St. Petersburg).

Materials used www.spbkontrol.ru

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 200-gram package of a characteristic blue color, at least a tablespoon of whey gurgled overflowed ...

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:

Certainly.

Despite the fact that the sample of Selo Zelenoe brand cottage cheese from Izhevsk did not taste or look like 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.