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Kiri Soft Cream Cheese | Chewsday Review

Today's Chewsday Review features another cheese product, this time it's Kiri Soft Cream Cheese. Is this an ok option for a snack or lunchbox? Let's see!

Ingredients

Positives

Negatives

Reasonably low calcium content (130mg/100g) for a cheese. One portion of Kiri works out to be only 5% of a toddler’s calcium requirements, which isn’t a lot to help with strong teeth and bones. Regular cheese has much more calcium at 700-750mg calcium/100g.
19.5g of saturated fat per 100g (more than 1/2 the total fat) which is above healthy guidelines. Most cheddar cheeses contain ~21g of saturated fat, so technically this is slightly lower than average cheese.
High sodium content (620mg/100g) and again, most cheddar cheeses are slightly higher in sodium at ~700mg/100g.
CONTEXT: cheese is made from the protein and fat components of milk, with the addition of an acidic component and an enzyme called rennet. The solid components are separated and pressed into the final shape. Realistically, cheese is concentrated milk and all cheeses are going to have relatively high fat and protein content, and low sugar or carbohydrate content. Salt also 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/100g, making it a high salt product. It’s almost impossible to change these characteristics and still make cheese.
$30/kg which is relatively expensive compared to regular blocks of cheese.

Marketing

Alternatives

Philadelpiha cream cheese has less sodium (good), less calcium (bad), and more saturated fat (bad) at a slightly cheaper price of 17/kg. I’d say it’s neither better nor worse. Laughing Cow cheese has more calcium, so nutritionally might be a slightly better choice.
Instead, if you’re going to have cheese then I’d suggest sliced or grated cheddar cheese over this Kiri cheese. Team it with some of the Peckish no salt brown rice crackers from a previous review to keep the salt content down!