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The fat contained in the cheese is particularly easy to digest and is a source of the essential linolenic acid. Furthermore, the fat is an important flavour carrier. The fat content in cheese is stated as ‘fat in dry matter’.

Fat content categories
: The Cheese Regulation stipulates the fat content levels at which cheese may be marketed:
• Double-cream category: min. 60%, max. 87%
FiT• Cream category: min. 50% FiT•
Full-fat category: min. 45%
FiT• Full-fat grade: min. 40% FDM•
Three-quarters-fat grade: min. 30%
FDM• Half-fat grade: min. 20%
FDM• Quarter-fat grade: min. 10%
FDM• Low-fat grade: less than 10% FDM

Fat in dry matter
Fat in dry matter is the standard way in which the fat content of cheese is stated. This method of stating the fat content originated after the First World War, when people sought to misrepresent the fat content of cheese as being higher than it actually was. Today, this specification is mandatory in Germany in accordance with the German Cheese Regulation. As water constantly evaporates from cheese during the maturing and storage periods, it is not possible to maintain a constant absolute percentage of fat content.
Example: A soft cheese with 48% fat in dry matter has a water content of approximately 50%. If all the water is removed from 100 g of this cheese, 50 g of cheese mass remains. These 50 g contain 48% fat, i.e. 24 g. The cheese therefore contains 24% fat by weight. A hard cheese (hard cheese), also with 48% fat in the dry matter, has a water content of only 30%. If all the water is removed from 100 g of this cheese, 70 g of cheese mass remains. These 70 g contain 48% fat, i.e. 33.6 g. The cheese therefore contains 33.6% absolute fat.

Absolute
fat content It is becoming increasingly common, particularly for lower-fat varieties, to see the absolute fat content stated voluntarily. The absolute fat content of a cheese is given as a percentage and is significantly lower than the fat content in the dry matter.
Example:
A soft cheese with 60% fat in the dry matter has a water content of 50%. If all the water is removed from 100 g of this cheese, 50 g of cheese mass remain – these 50 g contain 60 per cent fat, i.e. 30 g. This soft cheese therefore contains 30 per cent fat by weight.
(Calculation using the rule of three: 50 x 60 : 100 = 30)
A hard cheese (hard cheese) also containing 60% fat in the dry matter, by contrast, has a water content of only 30%. If all the water is removed from the same 100-gram portion of this cheese, 70 grams of cheese mass remain – these 70 grams also contain 60% fat, i.e. 42 grams. The absolute fat content of this hard cheese is therefore 42%.
(Calculation using the rule of three: 70 × 60 : 100 = 42)
This clearly shows that, due to its higher water content compared to hard cheese, soft cheese has a significantly lower absolute fat content in the dry matter, even though it has the same fat content.