Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Breakstone's 2% Milkfat Lowfat Cottage Cheese Small Curd ultra-processed?

117 g Fresh cheeses Sold in the United States

Pack of Breakstone's 2% Milkfat Lowfat Cottage Cheese Small Curd

Yes, it's ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

  • 11 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed fresh cheeses

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

cultured pasteurized grade a skim milk, cream, whey, contains less than 2% of modified food starch, salt, calcium phosphate, xanthan gum, guar gum, natural flavor, vitamin a palmitate, vitamin d3

Additives: E412 Guar gum , E415 Xanthan gum

As written on the pack

CULTURED PASTEURIZED GRADE A SKIM MILK AND CREAM, WHEY, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SALT, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, XANTHAN GUM, GUAR GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D3

What makes it ultra-processed

Cosmetic additives

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • E412 Guar gum Guar gum is a thickener ground from the seeds of the guar plant.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

Substances rarely used in home kitchens

Refined or extracted in factories, such as syrups made from starch or isolated proteins. The other hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
2 ingredients that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

  • Cheeses Products in the category "Cheeses" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 91 fresh cheeses

From least to most processed, this one ranks 82nd. 37% of the fresh cheeses here are ultra-processed.

Ranked by NOVA group, then by the number of ultra-processing signs, additives and ingredients. Our ordering, not part of NOVA.

All 91 fresh cheeses, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0021000123544, last edited 8 August 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
  • Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • The NOVA group is an automated estimate from crowdsourced data: a missing or mistyped ingredient can change it.
  • NOVA measures processing, not nutrition. For nutrition, Open Food Facts gives this product a Nutri-Score of B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.