Bega Stringers Original | Chewsday Review

Fun and Stringy- what else could you ask for in a cheese? While we're all wrapping our heads around the return to packing lunchboxes, let's see if these are another easy option to try.

Ingredients

Positives

Reasonably high calcium content (652mg per 100g). One Bega stringer works out to be almost 20% of a young child’s daily calcium requirements. Regular cheese has a teeny bit more calcium at ~700mg calcium per 100g.
Good source of protein, which makes up a quarter of the cheese by weight and is about the same as most other cheese blocks. Remember, most Aussie kids get way more protein that they need, so this is rarely an issue.
Significantly less total and saturated fat than regular cheese. Stringers contain 14.6g of saturated fat per 100g while cheddar cheese often contains >20g per 100g. Remember that cheese is made from concentrated milk, and it will therefore have a relatively high saturated fat content.
Almost no sugar (less than 1g per 100g) as with most cheeses.
Kids love the strings in Stringers. It’s undeniably fun!

Negatives

These do have a high sodium content (707mg per 100g). Again, most cheddar cheeses have high sodium levels. Remember from our previous cheese reviews that salt has an integral role in the production of cheese, inhibiting bacterial overgrowth and balancing the acidity. The average salt content of cheese is about 620mg per 100g, making it a high salt product. It’s almost impossible to change these characteristics and still make cheese.
$43 per kg which is relatively expensive compared to regular blocks of cheese. This works out to about 88c per Stringer.
Each cheese stringer is individually packaged in plastic, which makes them a convenient lunchbox snack but not ideal if you’re trying to reduce your plastic usage.

Marketing

“Dairy calcium for strong teeth and bones.” Yes I’m happy with that.
“Four natural ingredients.” This is just appealing to the worries we have about ‘unnatural’ food. I don’t think this ‘fact’ makes it any better than other cheese.
“No artificial colours or flavours.” True.
“Easy for kids to open.” Definitely an important factor for kids with lunchboxes.
“Fun to string and eat.” True!
“Proudly Australian owned.” Yes, but only 98% of ingredients are Australian so this could be a little confusing for some.

Alternatives

The composition of food products changes regularly. The nutritional values of the products in this Chewsday Review were correct at the time of publishing.