Fage Total 0% vs Core Power: Two Milk-Protein Labels Compared

Fage Total 0% nonfat plain Greek strained yogurt and Core Power Chocolate High Protein Milk Shake both start with grade A milk. After that, their ingredient lists go in very different directions: one lists 2 ingredients, the other lists 13. This comparison walks through both Open Food Facts listings line by line and sets them against what U.S. rules actually say about yogurt, sweeteners, gums and lactase.

Key takeaways:

• Fage Total 0% relies on just 2 ingredients: pasteurized skimmed milk and five distinct live active yogurt cultures.
• Core Power Chocolate lists 13 ingredients, including filtered low-fat milk, alkalized cocoa, lactase enzyme, added vitamins, and three texture ingredients.
• Core Power uses a blend of four sweetening agents (monk fruit juice concentrate, stevia leaf extract, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose) with no table sugar listed, whereas Fage contains no sweetening ingredients.
• Fage's listing names live yogurt cultures; Core Power's listing names a lactase enzyme and no cultures.

The Short Version: What Each Label Lists

Fage Total 0% lists skimmed milk and five named yogurt cultures. Its listing names no sweeteners, no thickeners and no added vitamins.

Core Power Chocolate lists filtered low fat milk, alkalized cocoa, natural flavors, four sweetening ingredients, three texture ingredients, a lactase enzyme and two added vitamins. No sugar appears in its ingredient list. Neither listing tells you protein, sugar or calorie amounts, so check each product's Nutrition Facts panel for those numbers.

At-a-Glance Comparison: Fage Total 0% vs Core Power Chocolate

Attribute	Fage Total 0% Plain	Core Power Chocolate
Open Food Facts Name	Total 0% Milkfat	Core Power Chocolate High Protein Milk Shake
Barcode	689544083016	811620021951
Total Ingredients	2	13
Base Dairy	Grade A pasteurized skimmed milk	Filtered low fat grade A milk
Sweetening Ingredients	None	Monk fruit juice concentrate, stevia leaf extract, acesulfame potassium, sucralose
Flavor Ingredients	None (plain)	Alkalized cocoa, natural flavors
Texture / Gums	None	Carrageenan, cellulose gel, cellulose gum
Microbiology / Enzymes	5 live active cultures	Lactase enzyme (no live cultures)
Added Vitamins	None	Vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3

Ingredient Count and Simplicity: Two Ingredients vs Thirteen

According to its Open Food Facts listing, Fage Total 0% contains exactly two ingredients: grade A pasteurized skimmed milk and live active yogurt cultures. The cultures are explicitly identified as L. bulgaricus, S. thermophilus, L. acidophilus, bifidus, and L. casei. That is the entire ingredient statement.

Core Power Chocolate, according to its Open Food Facts listing, contains 13 ingredients: filtered low fat grade A milk, alkalized cocoa, natural flavors, monk fruit juice concentrate, stevia leaf extract, carrageenan, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, lactase enzyme, vitamin A palmitate, and vitamin D3.

Both products start with grade A milk as their common ground. However, Fage relies entirely on traditional dairy processing, whereas Core Power introduces functional additives to manage flavor, sweetness, physical stability, and vitamin fortification. For shoppers tracking formulations with short rosters, reviewing Food Gums on 6 Scanned Labels: From Five Thickeners to Zero provides helpful context on how multi-additive formulations compare across aisles.

How Sweetness and Flavor Are Built: Plain Dairy vs Four Sweeteners

Fage Total 0% is an unsweetened, plain fermented milk. Its ingredient listing contains no caloric sweeteners, syrups, or non-nutritive sugar substitutes. Any sweetness comes strictly from the intrinsic components of skimmed milk.

Core Power Chocolate lists no standard table sugar, yet it includes four separate sweetening ingredients:

• Monk fruit juice concentrate: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says Siraitia grosvenorii Swingle fruit extract (SGFE) is reported to be 100 to 250 times sweeter than sugar depending on its mogroside content, and that "an ADI has not been specified for monk fruit." Core Power lists monk fruit juice concentrate, which is not the same thing as the extract FDA describes.
• Stevia leaf extract: FDA has evaluated Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notices for high-purity (95% minimum purity) steviol glycosides; the ADI of 4 mg/kg body weight per day (expressed as steviol equivalents) was set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. FDA also says stevia leaf and crude stevia extracts are not considered GRAS for use as sweeteners. Core Power lists "stevia leaf extract," and the name alone does not state its purity.
• Acesulfame potassium (Ace-K): Regulated under 21 CFR 172.800 as a food additive. FDA describes it as about 200 times sweeter than table sugar and often combined with other sweeteners, and lists an ADI of 15 mg/kg body weight per day.
• Sucralose: Regulated under 21 CFR 172.831 as a food additive and approved as a general-purpose sweetener in 1999. FDA describes it as about 600 times sweeter than table sugar and lists an ADI of 5 mg/kg body weight per day.

For flavor, Core Power's listing adds alkalized cocoa and natural flavors; our review of Cocoa Processed With Alkali: What Dutch Cocoa Means on Labels covers what that cocoa wording means. The listing does not say how much of each sweetener is used.

Texture and Viscosity: Natural Straining vs Stabilizer Gums

Fage Total 0% lists no stabilizers, starches or gums. The words "Greek" and "strained" on its name are not defined in the federal yogurt standard, so they carry no specific legal meaning there. The standard does allow stabilizers and emulsifiers as optional yogurt ingredients; Fage's listing simply uses none of them.

Core Power Chocolate lists three texture ingredients:

• Carrageenan: Regulated under 21 CFR 172.620 as a food additive, a refined hydrocolloid from listed red seaweeds, used "in the amount necessary for an emulsifier, stabilizer, or thickener in foods." See Is Carrageenan Safe? Uses, Safety, and Regulatory Status.
• Cellulose gum (sodium carboxymethylcellulose): Regulated under 21 CFR 182.1745 as GRAS when used under good manufacturing practice.
• Cellulose gel: Listed alongside cellulose gum; the listing does not describe it further.

The listing does not say what job each of these three ingredients does in this particular shake.

Bioactivity and Digestion: Live Bacterial Cultures vs Added Lactase

These two dairy products take entirely divergent approaches to digestion and microbiology.

Under the federal yogurt standard, 21 CFR 131.200, yogurt must be cultured with lactic acid-producing bacteria containing Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Fage lists both of these foundational cultures, plus three optional additions permitted under 21 CFR 131.200(d)(1): Lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidus, and Lactobacillus casei. The Open Food Facts listing notes live active cultures, though specific colony forming units (CFU) are not disclosed.

Core Power contains no bacterial cultures. Instead, it includes lactase enzyme. The listing simply names "lactase enzyme" without specifying the microbial source organism or stating the remaining lactose content or extent of lactose reduction in the finished beverage.

FDA's rule for one lactase source, a preparation from Kluyveromyces lactis, describes the enzyme as one "which converts lactose to glucose and galactose" and says it is used in milk to make lactase-treated or lactose-reduced milk. Core Power's listing does not name its lactase source.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) suggests people with lactose intolerance "try eating yogurt and hard cheeses, which some people find easier to tolerate than other milk products," and says lactose-free and lactose-reduced products "may help you lower the amount of lactose in your diet." Neither listing claims the product is lactose-free; they simply take different routes, cultures in one and an added enzyme in the other.

Nutritional Fortification and the FDA Dairy Standards

Federal regulations set precise boundaries for dairy labeling. Because Fage Total 0% contains zero percent milkfat, it falls below the standard 3.25 percent fat threshold in 21 CFR 131.200(a). As outlined in 21 CFR 131.200(g)(1), products below 2.44 percent milkfat are governed under 21 CFR 130.10 as modified foods carrying nutrient content claims (such as "nonfat").

While 21 CFR 130.10(b)(1) generally requires nonfat modified foods to add nutrients to prevent nutritional inferiority compared to full-fat counterparts, 21 CFR 130.10(b)(2) explicitly exempts yogurt containing less than 3.25 percent milkfat from that rule with respect to vitamin A fortification. Fage Total 0%'s listing names no added vitamins.

Core Power's listing names vitamin A palmitate and vitamin D3. The listing does not give the amounts; the Nutrition Facts panel shows the vitamin D and other nutrient values per serving.