Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Breakstone's Cottage Cheese ultra-processed?

16 oz Fresh cheeses Sold in the United States

Pack of Breakstone's Cottage Cheese

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:

  • 13 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, milk and cream, water, whey, inulin, 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, milk and cream, water, whey, inulin, 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.
  • Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.
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 85th. 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 0021000013289, last edited 28 April 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.