Strained yoghurt, 2%, full fat or dessert? How to choose

In the supermarket fridge, yoghurts take up metres of shelf: strained, regular, 0%, 2%, full fat, with honey, with fruit, plant-based. Some of them are not even yoghurt in law. The Greek Food and Beverages Code and the numbers in our database help you choose.

What the law says about yoghurt

Yoghurt is defined in Article 82 of the Greek Food and Beverages Code, as amended in 2016.

• Yoghurt is milk that has been fermented and set with two specific bacterial cultures. It must have at least 3.2% protein if it is made from cow’s or goat’s milk and 5.5% if it is made from sheep’s milk.
• Strained yoghurt (straggisto) is yoghurt from which part of the whey has been drained off after setting. It must have at least 5.6% protein from cow’s or goat’s milk and 8% from sheep’s milk.
• Traditional (paradosiako) is the name for yoghurt made by the traditional method, with a skin on the surface.
• The only things that may be added to yoghurt are cream, to adjust the fat, and milk proteins from the same animal, within a limit. Milk powder is not allowed.
• The fat percentage must appear next to the name. That is why you see ‘0%’, ‘2%’ or ‘10%’ on the front of the pot.

The Code does not define what ‘full fat’ means. It only requires the percentage to be stated. The rules bind products made in Greece. A yoghurt from another EU country may follow the rules of its own country.

The Greek Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) has opened a public consultation, running until 31 October 2026, on changes to the articles on milk and dairy products. The draft keeps the same minimum protein levels for yoghurt and strained yoghurt.

The numbers per 100 g

The values for the strained yoghurts are averages from the USDA database in the US. Strained yoghurts on the Greek market may differ, especially the full-fat ones, which do not all have 5% fat. For the specific product in your hand, look at the percentage next to the name and at the nutrition table.

0%, 2% or full fat?

Protein stays almost the same, with 10.0 g at 0%, 9.7 at 2% and 9.0 in full fat. What changes is the fat and, with it, the calories. A 170 g pot has about:

Under the limits of European law, the 0% is ‘fat-free’ and the 2% is ‘low fat’. The 2%, however, is not ‘low saturated fat’, because its saturates provide 15% of its energy and the limit is 10%. The full-fat one comes out amber for fat and saturates in UK labelling. More on the limits in the article on ‘light’ and ‘sugar-free’.

Which one to choose depends on the calories that fit into your plan and on the taste you prefer. In MesogeaFit the grams of yoghurt are adjusted to the calories of the meal, so you can also have full fat in a smaller amount.

Strained or regular?

Strained yoghurt has about 2.5 times the protein of regular yoghurt, 9 to 10 g per 100 g instead of 3.8. That is why it often goes into breakfasts and high-protein snacks.

Regular yoghurt, though, has more calcium per 100 g in our database, 137 mg against 100 to 115 in the strained ones. A 200 g pot of regular yoghurt gives about 274 mg of calcium, 34% of the reference intake for one day. A 200 g strained yoghurt gives 200 to 230 mg. Regular yoghurt also has fewer calories, 50 kcal per 100 g.

The sugars in plain yoghurt, 3 to 4 g per 100 g, are the lactose from milk. The World Health Organization does not count them among the ‘free sugars’ that we should limit.

Desserts

The law allows only cream and milk proteins to be added to yoghurt. From this we conclude that products made in Greece with sugar, honey, fruit or chocolate belong to another category, the milk-based desserts of Article 84. Exactly how names like ‘yoghurt dessert’ are classified is not clear. Such a dessert must contain at least 75% milk or milk products. It may contain sugar, fruit, cocoa, sweeteners and yoghurt cultures.

This does not make a dessert a bad choice, but you do need to read the table. A simple way to do it:

1. Look at the sugars per 100 g.
2. Plain yoghurt has 3 to 4 g. Anything above that usually comes from sugar, honey or fruit, and more rarely from added lactose or milk ingredients. The ingredients will tell you which applies.
3. If the product contains fruit, the pack also states how much fruit it has per 100 g.
4. If you see ‘with sweetener(s)’ next to the name, the sweet taste comes partly from sweeteners.

The plant-based soya dessert

The European Union keeps the word ‘yoghurt’ only for products made from milk. In 2017 the EU Court of Justice ruled that such names cannot be used for purely plant-based products, even when they come with words like ‘soya’. That is why the equivalent soya products are called ‘plant-based dessert’ or ‘soya preparation’.

The plant-based soya dessert in our database has 42 kcal, 3.9 g of protein and almost no sugars per 100 g. Its calcium, 120 mg, is there because it is fortified. If you don’t eat dairy, choose a product that says calcium has been added.

‘Greek yoghurt’

Abroad, strained yoghurt is often called ‘Greek yogurt’. We did not find a definition of ‘Greek yoghurt’ in European Union law. The best-known court case is British, from 2014. The trial judge found that a significant share of buyers in the United Kingdom understand ‘Greek yoghurt’ as strained yoghurt made in Greece, and banned a strained yoghurt from the US from being sold under that name. The Court of Appeal upheld the ban. In Greece the law uses the term straggisto (strained).

How to choose at the shelf

• If you want plain yoghurt, look for ‘yoghurt’ or ‘strained yoghurt’ in the name. The word ‘dessert’ means a different category.
• Check the fat percentage next to the name.
• In the ingredients of plain yoghurt you expect milk and cultures, perhaps cream or milk proteins. Often there is no ingredients list at all, and the law allows this when nothing else has been added.
• For protein, prefer strained. For calcium and fewer calories, regular yoghurt is a good choice.
• With fruit or sweet yoghurts, compare the sugars per 100 g with the 3 to 4 g of plain yoghurt.

If you have a milk protein allergy, none of the dairy products are suitable. Milk is one of the 14 allergens that the law requires to stand out on the label.