Muuna Lowfat Plain Cottage Cheese: Nutrition & Labelgrade B (76/100)

The short answer

Muuna Lowfat Plain Cottage Cheese packs 19 g of protein into a 120-calorie, 5.3 oz (150 g) cup (USDA FDC 1923646) — a grab-and-go protein hit with a short dairy ingredient list and no added sugar. It earns a Labelgrade B (76 / 100). The per-100g density is a moderate 12.7 g because cottage cheese is mostly water, but the per-cup total is the number that matters, and 19 g in one small container is genuinely strong. The strengths are clean: an eight-item, gum-free panel, very low saturated fat (2 g), and 4 g of sugar that’s all natural lactose. The one real knock is sodium — at 520 mg per cup it’s the saltiest cottage cheese in this comparison set, and the single line item keeping it out of A territory.

Why the B

The fiber “F” is structural — dairy has no fiber and the formula doesn’t pretend otherwise. The honest call is sodium: 520 mg is fine as an occasional snack but adds up fast if cottage cheese is a daily habit, which is exactly the case it’s marketed for.

The texture play — what you’re actually buying

Muuna’s whole reason for existing is mouthfeel, not macros. Classic cottage cheese is large-curd, loose, and watery — the texture a generation of people decided they hated. Muuna re-engineered the curd to be smaller, smoother, and creamier, betting that the people who avoided cottage cheese would come back for a version that doesn’t feel like cottage cheese. That bet is the brand.

What it means for this fact sheet: the nutrition panel is conventional. 19 g protein, 120 calories, 3 g fat, 4 g lactose — those numbers sit right in the cottage-cheese mainstream. You are paying a small premium for the texture and the single-serve cup, not for a macro advantage you can’t get elsewhere. If you already like the curdy stuff, a tub of Daisy or Breakstone’s gives you nearly the same nutrition for less money. If texture was the thing keeping you out of the category, that premium is the whole point.

The milk protein concentrate, and the sodium it brings

Two ingredients on this label do the heavy lifting in opposite directions.

• Milk protein concentrate is why it hits 19 g. A plain skim-and-cream cottage cheese lands closer to 11-14 g of protein per cup; Muuna spikes it with concentrated dairy protein to reach 19 g in just 150 g — matching Good Culture Classic and clearing a standard Breakstone’s serving by a wide margin. It’s a real dairy ingredient, not a filler, and it’s the reason this cup competes with the high-protein leaders.
• Salt is why it scores a C on sodium. At 520 mg per cup, Muuna out-salts every cottage cheese it’s commonly shelved next to — Good Culture (460 mg), Daisy 2% (~432 mg), Breakstone’s (370 mg for a comparable amount). Per 100 g it’s ~347 mg, the highest density in the group. None of these are high-sodium foods, but if you eat cottage cheese daily, Muuna is the one that’ll move your sodium total the most.

That’s the trade in one sentence: most protein per cup of the curd-smooth options, most sodium of the bunch.

How it compares

Read across the cottage-cheese rows and the story is clear: Muuna and Good Culture tie at the top for protein per cup (both 19 g / 150 g), but Muuna gives up the sodium round to all three of its cottage-cheese rivals. Daisy actually has the highest per-100g protein density of the group while running ~90 mg less sodium than Muuna. Against cream cheese — a fat-and-flavor food, not a protein food — there’s simply no contest: Muuna delivers roughly 10× the protein per bite at a third of the saturated fat. The honest pecking order: pick Muuna for the texture and the convenient cup, Good Culture for a shorter purist label at the same protein, Daisy for the best protein-to-sodium ratio, and skip cream cheese entirely if protein is the goal.

Whole-food equivalent

One cup (19 g protein) ≈ 61 g of cooked chicken breast (about 2.2 oz), at a roughly even calorie count (120 here vs ~100 for that chicken). On protein it’s also about three large eggs. The wins over chicken are zero prep, 150 mg of calcium, and a soft, spoonable format that goes sweet or savory. The trade-off, again, is sodium — 520 mg versus roughly 25 mg for an equivalent bite of plain chicken.

Scope

This page covers Muuna Lowfat Plain Cottage Cheese in the 5.3 oz (150 g) single-serve cup as represented in USDA Branded Foods FDC 1923646 (UPC 856491006058). Muuna’s line also includes fruit-on-the-bottom flavored cups (peach, strawberry, pineapple, blueberry, mango) and larger tubs at various fat levels. The flavored cups add fruit and sugar, so their macros and Labelgrade scores differ substantially from this plain version — don’t assume the no-added-sugar status carries over. Manufacturers reformulate, so confirm against the actual cup, especially for allergens: this is a milk product.

Ingredients

Cultured skim milk, skim milk, cream, milk protein concentrate, salt, potassium sorbate (preservative), vitamin A palmitate, and enzymes — eight items, all dairy-derived or standard processing aids, with no gums or thickeners. (Verbatim from the USDA Branded Foods entry, FDC 1923646.)

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Scope: This page applies specifically to Muuna Lowfat Plain Cottage Cheese (5.3 oz (150 g) single-serve cup) · UPC 856491006058. Other sizes, flavors, or formulations may differ.