Fat in the dry matter

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fat in dry matter, abbreviated fat i. Tr. , in Austria F. i. T. , is the usual form in which the fat content of cheese is reported in some countries . It is the mass fraction of fat in the dry matter of the cheese, i. H. of all cheese ingredients except the water . The information is given in percent by weight:

With

= Fat mass
= Dry matter
= Total mass
= Water mass

distribution

In Germany , Austria and Switzerland , the specification of the fat content in this form is mandatory (at least for commercial manufacturers and traders), and in all three countries the specification is made either by specifying a percentage or by specifying a fat content level, the fat content levels in turn via the fat content are defined in dry matter.

  • In Germany, Section 15 of the Cheese Ordinance is relevant. The prescribed formulation is: “…% fat i. Tr. "Or" at least ...% fat i. Tr. ”For cheese made from milk with a natural fat content (not adjusted by skimming and adding cream later). Sour milk cheese is exempt from the disclosure requirement; According to the regulation, this always has the lean level.
  • In Austria, Section 8 of the Milk Quality Ordinance is relevant. All cheeses which, according to their type, are exclusively produced with a certain fat content level are exempt from the disclosure requirement.
  • In Switzerland, Article 40 (5) of the Ordinance of the Federal Department of Home Affairs on foods of animal origin is relevant.

In many other countries this information is unusual. In France , for example, the fat content in dry matter was mandatory from 1988 to 2007, and since then the fat content has been stated on 100 g of cheese (absolute fat content (see below); teneur en matière grasse pour 100 grammes de produit fini ).

Difference to the absolute fat percentage

Instead of the fat content of the dry matter, the fat content can also be specified as a proportion of the total weight including the water. This specification of the absolute fat content, for example in grams of fat per 100 grams of cheese, has the disadvantage that the fat content increases over time because the cheese loses water during maturation and storage and is therefore lighter. It would therefore be more difficult to check, for example, on a cheese purchased in retail, whether the manufacturer has given correct information. In contrast, the proportion of fat in the dry matter does not change.

On the other hand, it is more difficult for the consumer to calculate the total amount of fat in the product that is of interest to him or the fat content of different types of cheese with different water content , e.g. B. of cream and hard cheese to compare.

conversion

To convert between fat in dry matter and absolute fat content, you need to know the dry matter content of the cheese. To calculate the absolute fat content, multiply the fat content of the dry matter with this dry matter:

Sometimes the water content is given instead of the dry matter content . The above formula then results in:

example

As an example, the fat content of a soft and a hard cheese with the same fat content in the dry matter will be compared.

  • A soft cheese with 48% fat i. Tr. have a water content of 70% (dry matter 30%). This gives a fat content of 0.48 × (1 - 0.7) = 0.144 or approx. 14% absolute fat. 100 grams of this cheese contains 14 grams of fat.
  • A hard cheese with also 48% fat i. Tr., But a water content of 36% (dry matter 64%) would have a fat content of 0.48 × (1 - 0.36) = 0.3072 or approx. 31% absolute fat. 100 grams of this cheese contains 31 grams of fat.

A serving of hard cheese therefore contains more than twice as much fat as an equally heavy serving of soft cheese.

Dry matter estimates

If the exact dry matter content of a cheese is not known - the information on the packaging is not mandatory and therefore often cannot be found - you can use approximate estimates for different types of cheese:

Hard cheese : 70%
Sliced ​​cheese : 60%
Soft cheese : 50%
Cream cheese : 30%
Quark : 20%

Using this method, for example, for a hard cheese with 45% fat i. Tr. an approximate absolute fat content of a little over 30 g per 100 g, while the same amount of double cream cheese with 62% fat i. Tr. has an approximate absolute fat content of well below 20 g.

If for some reason you are not able to assign the cheese in question to one of these groups, you can also use 0.5 as a factor. Of course, this is only good for a very rough approximation.

If you add the fat content levels according to the cheese ordinance, you get the following table with the mentioned estimated values:

Fat level Fat i. Tr.
Absolute fat content
Hard cheese
70%
Sliced ​​cheese
60%
Soft cheese
50%
Cream cheese
30%
Curd cheese
20%
Double cream 60-87% ≥ 42% ≥ 36% ≥ 30% ≥ 18%
cream ≥ 50% ≥ 35% ≥ 30% ≥ 25% ≥ 15%
Full fat ≥ 45% ≥ 32% ≥ 27% ≥ 23% ≥ 14%
fat ≥ 40% ≥ 28% ≥ 24% ≥ 20% ≥ 12% ≥ 8%
Three-quarter fat ≥ 30% ≥ 21% ≥ 18% ≥ 15% ≥ 9% ≥ 6%
Semi-bold ≥ 20% ≥ 14% ≥ 12% ≥ 10% ≥ 6% ≥ 4%
Quarter fat ≥ 10% ≥ 7% ≥ 6% ≥ 5% ≥ 3% ≥ 2%
Skinny <10% <7% <6% <5% <3% <2%

Individual evidence

  1. § 15 (1) No. 1 Cheese Ordinance
  2. § 8 Milk Quality Ordinance
  3. ^ Ordinance of the EDI on food of animal origin
  4. Etiquetage du fromage: note d'information. In: Process Alimentaire. June 5, 2007, accessed July 8, 2014 .
  5. French cheese decree (decree n ° 2007-628 of April 27, 2007 on cheeses and cheese specialties - Décret n ° 2007-628 du 27 avril 2007 relatif aux fromages et spécialités fromagères )
  6. a b c Gesa Maschkowski, Heike Krull, Christina Rempe: Cheese. In: what we eat (food from A – Z). aid infodienst , accessed on June 29, 2014 .