Frigo Cheese Heads Light String Mozzarella: Nutrition & Labelgrade B- (70/100)

The short answer

Frigo Cheese Heads Light String Mozzarella delivers 7g of protein for 50 calories in a single individually-wrapped stick (USDA FDC 1867352) — a lower-fat take on the lunchbox classic. Because it’s made from part-skim milk instead of whole, each stick carries 2.5g of fat versus the ~6g in a standard full-fat string cheese, while holding onto the same ~7g of protein. It earns a B- (70/100): top-tier protein density and zero sugar, dragged down by the one thing cured cheese can’t escape — sodium.

Why the B-

Two of those F’s are structural and not really faults: no cheese has fiber, and salt is doing real preservation and flavor work in a cured product. The honest read is that the sodium grade is harsh per 100g but softer in practice — one stick is only 200mg (9% of a day’s limit) because the portion is small. The saturated-fat “C” is actually where the “light” formulation already helps: a full-fat stick would score worse here.

What the “Light” actually buys you

The whole reason to reach for this over a regular Frigo or Polly-O stick is the part-skim swap, and it’s worth seeing the numbers side by side. A standard full-fat string cheese runs about 80 calories and 6g of fat per stick. This one is 50 calories and 2.5g of fat — roughly 38% fewer calories and about 58% less fat — for the same 7g of protein. That shifts the macro balance hard in protein’s favor: here, 56% of calories come from protein and 45% from fat, where a full-fat stick is closer to a fat-dominant split. If you’re eating string cheese specifically for the protein (and not as a fat source), light is the more efficient pick.

The flip side, and it’s the only one: part-skim mozzarella melts and pulls a little less luxuriously than whole-milk cheese. As a cold snack peeled straight from the wrapper — which is how string cheese is actually eaten — you won’t notice. Melted on something, you might.

The portion control nobody mentions

The underrated feature here isn’t on the Nutrition Facts panel: it’s the individual wrapper. Cheese is one of the easiest foods to over-eat by feel — slicing off “a bit more” from a block has no natural stopping point. A wrapped 24g stick is a hard, pre-measured 7g-protein / 50-calorie unit. For lunchboxes, a desk drawer, or a gym bag, that built-in stop is doing as much work as the macros. It’s also why this lands as a snack, not a cooking cheese — you’re paying a small premium per ounce for the wrapper and the convenience.

The calcium most people forget

Each stick brings 200mg of calcium — about 15% of the daily value — riding along with the protein at no extra calorie cost. That’s the quiet bonus of getting protein from dairy rather than, say, a meat stick or jerky: you’re banking a meaningful share of your calcium at the same time. Two sticks cover roughly a third of a day’s calcium. It rarely makes the marketing, but for kids’ lunches and anyone short on dairy, it’s a genuine point in this product’s favor.

Ingredients

Light low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese, made from pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, and vitamin A palmitate. Five ingredients, nothing you can’t pronounce, no added sugar or fillers. (Verbatim from the USDA Branded Foods entry, FDC 1867352.)

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Scope: This page applies specifically to Frigo, Cheese Heads, Light String Mozzarella Cheese (13.2 oz/377 g) · UPC 041716874738. Other sizes, flavors, or formulations may differ.