How to choose safe yogurt in a store and check its quality at home

According to experts, dairy products should be in everyone's diet. Among them, yogurt and kefir occupy a special place. However, it is worth knowing that not all dairy products are of high quality and healthy.

Nutritionist Olha Usenko shared her useful tips on how to choose quality and healthy yogurt in a store on Instagram.

Must include:

• milk (whole, skim or pasteurized)
• sourdough (live bacteria, e.g. Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus)

Should not include:

• sugar (including syrups, glucose-fructose syrup)
• starch
• preservatives
• coloring agents
• flavors
• thickeners and stabilizers (e.g. gelatin, carrageenan, modified starch)

Signs of natural yogurt:

If the yogurt is truly natural, it will contain only milk and starter. Its consistency may be a bit runny, but it is okay. And if you think that the manufacturer did not indicate the presence of starch on the package, try the following test at home. Drop some iodine into it: if there is starch, then when you add iodine, the mixture will turn blue or purple.

How to do the test:

Take a spoonful of yogurt/cottage cheese. Add 1-2 drops of iodine. If a blue or purple color appears, it means that it contains starch. If the color does not change or is yellowish, then there is no starch.

This method works because iodine reacts with starch to form a blue-purple complex!