A cheese of all the life, of which always they have been elaborated in the traditional cheese factories, contains four basic ingredients: milk (or of cow, sheep or goat), rennet, lactic ferments and salt. The cheese is also allowed to be made from cream or buttermilk and "additionally" contains some ingredients such as "microbial dyes or cultures and yeasts and spices".
If you go into the cheese section of any supermarket, find a wide variety of products labeled under the most varied forms. From the classic wedges of cured, semi-cured or tender cheese, through the tranchetes, the quesitos, the cheese to spread, the grated or powdered cheese, or the cheese to melt. The problem is that not all of these products are really cheese, although they may seem like it. The legislation allows brands to use different terms that may confuse the consumer.
What should we suspect especially?
Of all those in which the word "cheese" does not appear or the variety of cheese that it is. There are different nomenclatures and it is not easy to identify them. In the case of the Emmental simply refers to the variety of cheese, such as Gouda, Cheddar or Havarti. The term 'grated' or 'gratin' does not have to be problematic if we are facing a cheese of good quality. However, denominations like special for sandwich, are giving us many clues. There we are not buying cheese, but something else.
These products in which the name does not appear are usually made with vegetable fats and starch, mainly.
In addition, they move notably the amount of real cheese they incorporate and that is why many of them are cheaper. We have to be aware that this price reduction entails a lower quality of the product. In fact, in many of these products the amount of cheese is ridiculous and does not even reach 15% in some cases.
But not only starch and this type of fat live the pseudoquesos. Among its components we can also find dyes, thickeners and other additives used by manufacturers with the aim that the characteristics of this product are as close as possible to real cheese. The function of these additives is merely filling and that, more than a nutritional problem, it is a problem of organoleptic quality, and these refined fats, such as palm oil, will not do any good for our health.