Due to the increase in milk prices, new dairy products have appeared on the shelves of supermarkets. Despite the fact that the labels and packaging formats are similar to milk derivatives already known to consumers, the new products have different ingredients and even a new nomenclature.

Dairy products are changing the composition – Photo: Alexas Photos/Pexels/Disclosure/ND

With the change, the consumer can take home “condensed milk” instead of condensed milk; requeijão, changed to “milk mixture flavored with requeijão”; and shredded cheese for “shredded cheese food mix”.

According to UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) Department of Nutrition Professor and NUPPRE (Centre for Nutrition Research in Food Production) Ana Carolina Fernandez, the new products have a similarity in general: whey.

The liquid comes from the coagulation of milk and, according to the researcher, “used to be discarded by the industry,” but because of the negative environmental impact, “has become a raw material that is massively present in ultra-processed foods.” products”.

Consumers may not understand what they are buying.

It is important to emphasize that these changes are authorized and regulated by competent authorities such as MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply) or Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) and, in principle, do not violate any laws.

As noted, the big problem is that the visual differences between new dairy products and products that are already conspicuous to the consumer are minimal and in some cases come down to small letters on the labels.

The same packaging can confuse the consumer – Photo: Nestle / Reproduction / ND

Many of the new packages also feature images related to milk, such as cows, pastures, vats and white liquids, and are placed on the same shelves as traditional products.

What is behind the change?

Univille Economics Professor Jani Floriano explains that recent changes in the dairy industry are due to a number of factors: seasonality; lack of raw materials on the market and the war in Ukraine.

Jani explains that the time when milk cost almost 10 reais in the markets was naturally a period of low milk production. “And when supply goes down, the price goes up,” he says.

But, if this is a natural phenomenon, then why in other years the price of the product did not increase so much? According to Jani, the situation began to take shape in the summer, between December, January and February, “when Santa Catarina experienced a severe drought.”

“This drought also meant that grazing and livestock feed production also declined. And this led to a significant drop in cow productivity,” he explains.

In natura images are mistakenly inserted into food labels – Photo: Pixabay/Pexels/Disclosure/ND

In addition to seasonality and summer drought, another important factor was the war in Ukraine. She explains that dairy staples such as fertilizers, raw materials, corn and soybeans have significantly increased their value in the international market.

Because of this, “the problem with the price of milk during this period of May, June and July was precisely to add up all these factors, in addition to the fact that we are already proceeding from the inflationary process,” explains the professor.

According to a special study conducted by the Fiesc Observatory (Federation of Industry of Santa Catarina) and CNI (National Confederation of Industry), the war between Russia and Ukraine led to a 70.7% increase in the cost of resources and raw materials. industrial and construction companies of Santa Catarina.

The final product and derivatives, in turn, have a high price in accordance with the cost of production. “When you have the price of a product that the economy needs and it goes up, it creates a ripple effect in the economy. Everything is more expensive, but that is because the resources to produce these other products have also become more expensive,” he concludes.

At this time, the solution for companies is to replace this main ingredient with another “cheaper” one to try to balance the final cost of the product.

‘Milk cream mix’ can be confused with the original product – Photo: Nestle/Reproduction/ND

On the negative side, these new dairy products are nutritionally and organoleptically degraded, with most of the time being exchanged for “ultra-processed, nutritionally degraded foods that increase health risks,” according to researcher Ana.

Nutritional and culinary disorders

In addition to possible confusion when buying, the specialist is worried about the exchange of raw materials for cheaper ones. The professor and researcher notes that these products, such as whey, are much lower in protein, fat, and calcium than pure milk, which “correspondingly reduces the nutritional value of dairy products”;

“The addition of whey also implies a more fluid product. Thus, in order to maintain creaminess (typical, for example, of yogurts, cream, cottage cheese, condensed milk and cream), it is necessary to add ingredients to thicken the product, such as gelatin (in yogurts) and starches (which increase the carbohydrate content). content), as well as food additives (thickeners),” explains Ana.

The researcher also points out that the deterioration in sensory performance as a result of changing the ingredients of these dairy products also leads to the use of other food additives such as colors and flavors.

“Whey sweetness” with the image of a cow – Photo: Aurea / Reproduction / ND

“For example, “dulce de leche whey candies” may contain milk, milk powder, or dulce de leche flavors, as well as browning colors (such as caramel); “Grated cheese food mix” may contain more starch than cheese, so “cheese flavoring” and yellow dyes are added to it,” he explains.

In addition, vegetable fat is still added to many of these products, a name that usually obscures the hydrogenation process applied to this fat, which would be an industrial trans fat.

“Industrial trans fats are cheap, but recognized and undeniably unhealthy, so much so that their addition to food is already limited and will be banned in Brazil from 2023. In other words, the natural fat is removed from the milk, considered beneficial when used as part of the original dairy product, and a very unhealthy fat is added,” he says.

Demystification of new products

According to Ana, imitation butter can also be mixed with margarine, a product that is also cheaper and considered less healthy (ultra-processed), “even though it is made from an interesterified fat that replaces industrial trans fats, but whose safety of consumption is also questioned, so as scientific evidence of harm to health has already been found.

“Dry Milk Flavored Drink”, marketed similarly to powdered milk, may contain vegetable fat and sugar.

On the label, in small print, you can read “vegetable cream with butter flavor.” Photo: Becel/Reproduction/ND

Similarly, “butter mix”, marketed similarly to sour cream, may have skimmed milk (instead of butterfat) as the first ingredient, resulting in the addition of vegetable fat, sugar, and other thickeners (starches and additives). as flavoring oils.

A “milk drink”, marketed similarly to yogurt, may contain whey (instead of milk) as the first ingredient, followed by sugar.

That is, in addition to sharing these ingredients, “as an aggravating factor, this consumption can often occur without the knowledge of the consumer because they are marketed in the same way as the healthier originals, which can lead to consumer error when choosing ‘ finishes Ana.

What are the companies saying?

ND+ contacted Nestlé, Becel and Aurea so they could position themselves, but no responses were sent until this article was published on Tuesday (06) around 12:30 pm. The space remains open for companies to express themselves.

Stay tuned!

One way to avoid buying a product instead of another is to know the elements of the label. ND+ has highlighted four tips for consumers to really know what they are taking home.

1 – Pay attention to the trade name of the food

This information is usually displayed in small letters on the front of the label. It is there that the consumer will know whether he takes, for example, condensed milk or milk formula.

It is important to understand the nomenclature on food labels – Photo: Nestle/Reproduction/ND

2 – Pay attention to the word “flavor”

When a food contains the word “flavouring” in its name, it means that the product contains compounds such as flavorings that mimic the organoleptic characteristics of the ingredient or whole product, such as milk.

3 – “New Formula”

Some manufacturers also add information such as “new formula” or “new product” to the label while retaining the brand name, logo, and traditional colors of that product.

“New product” on the packaging may warn about a change in the composition – Photo: Nestle / Reproduction / ND

4 – Review the list of ingredients

It is important to pay attention to the list of ingredients, which is indicated on the back of the label. They are listed in descending order from most used to least used. Important is the presence in the dairy product of “sugar”, “syrup”, “vegetable fat” or “starch” as the first ingredients.

Removing an app shortcut

Another tip is the Desrotulando app, which offers nutritional advice and evaluates the quality of foods available in supermarkets across Brazil.

The app, created in 2016, works like a shared library. In his memory are the labels of a wide variety of industrial products available on supermarket shelves.

Goods are rated on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the degree of their processing – the more processed, the worse; the closer to nature, the better – and depending on the ingredients, such as additives, that detract from the quality. 100 is excellent, and zero is very poor.

The app helps demystify the foods we consume – Photo: Google Play/Desrotulando/Reproduction/ND

The goal is to help people find less processed foods with fewer harmful ingredients. Solve doubts about labels, nutritional tables, and misleading food advertising.

To check the quality of the food, you can open the app and then scan the food label or search for what you want to see. If it is in the Desrotulando database, the profile will be displayed with the score and rating. If the product was not included, any user can take a photo of the label and send it together to the design team for evaluation.