Bega Protein Cheese | Chewsday Review
It used to be just protein powder, then came the protein bars, the protein chocolate and now apparently the protein cheese?!
- Ingredients: Milk, salt, cultures (milk), enzyme (non-animal rennet).
- The higher protein content isn’t because protein has been added, but actually because some of the milk fat has been removed during processing, making protein a larger proportion of the cheese.
- While I was browsing the cheese aisle (not a bad place to be to be honest) I realised that it’s hard to find a low fat Bega cheese! It seems they’ve replaced their ‘light’ cheese range with protein cheese?!
- Allergens: milk.
- This is really the only positive point. Due to the processing and fat removal the calcium content is higher than other cheddar cheeses. Bega Protein Cheese contains 1018mg per 100g, whereas regular cheddar cheeses vary from 600-800mg per 100g. Bega’s (regular) Tasty Cheese has 720mg of calcium per 100g.
- I’m not sure this really fits as a positive… but it is lower in total fat and saturated fat than regular cheddar cheese. This Protein cheese contains 10.4g of saturated fat per 100g, whereas Bega Cheddar, Woolworths home brand or Coles home brand cheddar are all about 24g of saturated fat per 100g. And for comparison most home brand low fat cheddar cheese is about 16g of saturated fat per 100g.
- Salt is part of making cheese so as expected sodium is above recommendations. This isn’t anymore salty than other brands of cheddar though.
- A 500g block costs $11.40 so per kg this comes to a whopping $22.40. You can buy 1kg of home brand low fat cheese (which seems to be the most similar nutritionally) for half this price!
- The protein marketing really gives me the ick.
- “PROTEIN.” 🙄🙄🙄
- “40% more protein.” The * says compared to Bega Tasty Cheddar cheese… And I’m not worried about anyone’s protein intake to make me recommend this product. We know Aussie kids get way more protein than they need. Per 100g the protein is about 34g, but regular cheddar cheese typically contains around 24g of protein per 100g. So when we reduce down to say a 25g serve of cheese this is the difference of only a couple of grams.
- “50% lower in fat.” This is also in relation to Bega Tasty Cheddar Cheese. Removing fat will also change the creaminess and mouthfeel of the cheese.
- “100% natural cheese.” I guess they’re meaning it doesn’t contain any additives or fillers because I’m pretty sure cheese requires processing. It’s natural form would be milk.
- I just cannot let you get ripped off by this marketing… This is reduced fat cheese rebranded! Your child does not need this product.
- If you think your child is protein deficient and this protein cheese will make a difference, please book in with my team for support.
- If you have already bought this, of course it is fine to offer (let’s not waste more of your money) but please don’t get swept up by the protein hype!
The composition of food products changes regularly. The nutritional values of the products in this Chewsday Review were correct at the time of publishing.
