All types of feta, including fat-free, have health advantages compared with most soft cheese because feta is lower in fat than regular cheese, and the intense flavor of feta cheese means a little can go a long way in spiking up your salad or pasta recipe. Fat-free feta cheese, while lower in fat compared with traditional feta, can have more sodium per serving.
Calories, Fat And Protein
The nutrition information for feta cheese is based on a 1-oz. serving size. The serving of fat-free feta cheese is equal to the size of two dice, and has 30 calories, including 0 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, and 6 g protein. By comparison, a 1-oz serving of regular feta cheese has 100 calories per serving.
Sodium
Cheese is commonly high in sodium because salt is used for flavor and as a preservative. A 1-oz. serving of fat-free feta cheese has 450 mg sodium, or about 20 percent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Recommended Daily Allowance of 2,000 mg sodium. Fat-free feta cheese can be higher in sodium than regular feta cheese. In fact, a 1-oz. serving of traditional feta cheese has just 340 mg of sodium, or 14 percent of the RDA.
Vitamins And Minerals
Fat-free feta cheese is a good source of calcium, providing 10 percent of the RDA for calcium in a 1-oz. serving. It also provides 20 percent of the RDA for vitamin A, which helps bones and fights infection. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. Because fat-free feta cheese contains no milk fat, the manufacturers add vitamin A powder or supplement to make up for the lack of naturally occurring vitamin A in the cheese.
Ingredients And Processing
Feta cheese was originally made with goats milk, however, today it is mostly made with cows milk. Added cultures and enzymes break down the milk sugars, leaving the fat, protein, and vitamins intact to produce cheese. This is why cheese has very little carbohydrates or sugar compared to liquid milk. Fat-free feta cheese is made from pasteurized non-fat milk, salt, cheese cultures, corn starch, enzymes, vitamin A palmitate and color added.
Availability
Fat-free feta cheese is sold in supermarkets and health food stores. You can purchase it in blocks or crumbled, and it is typically sold like most cheese, by weight. Fat-free feta cheese may also be flavored with herbs or spices. It lends nutrition and flavor to salads, burgers or pasta dishes.
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