All Those Added Preservatives
While many varieties of supermarket cheese do have preservatives, true cheese doesnt actually need artificial additives, because the cheesemaking process actually creates natural preservatives.
Non-starter bacteria are the second wave of bacteria that appear in cheese during the cheesemaking process. Mainly made up of mesophilic lactic acid bacteria, these naturally occurring organisms contribute to the flavor and storage ability of different cheeses.
Velveeta, on the other hand, contains quite an array of distinct coloring and preserving agents.
Basically it cant be called real cheese because it has so many additives in it.
They Were Created To Be Preserved And Factory
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Sure, single-wrapped slices might seem all clean and neat. But basically, Kraft Singles were invented to never expire. At first, because they looked perfect, people were all for buying them. The Singles didnt curl, all the slices were the same thickness, and they didnt get hard but thats because they werent real cheese .
When Kraft Singles became popular after World War II, a lot of food production was industrial. People valued that their cheese came from a factory. Standardized meant high-quality.
Nowadays, we know better. We eat clean, we avoid processed foods, we detox, and we stay away from long ingredient lists. My advice? If youre eating a simple food like cheese or fruit, the ingredient list should only have one item the food itself. Pick another cheese next time youre getting hangry.
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The Real Reason American Cheese Is Dying
American cheese is dead. Millenials killed it.
Some version of that sentiment has been circulating across social and traditional media outlets recently. But even if youre suspicious of Twitter and the press, the data is clear: American cheese is going the way of comb headbands and Crystal Pepsi.
As Bloomberg points out, U.S. sales of American and other processed cheeses are expected to fall 1.6 percent this year, continuing a four-year slump in processed cheese sales. At American supermarkets, processed American cheese prices have dipped below $4 per pound for the first time since 2011. Meanwhile, at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the cheddar typically used to make American cheese is selling at a historical low.
American cheese, a high-fat, high-sodium, highly meltable blend of cheese and emulsifying agents, hit its heyday in the 1930s, when over 40 percent of the cheese consumed was American cheese made by Kraft. Over recent years, national tastes have turned away from synthetic, mass-manufactured cheese products to artisanal cheese makers, with millennials leading the way, .
Its easy to point to hoity-toity, health-conscious, millennials who get blamed for killing everything from breakfast cereal to golf as the culprits behind the collapse of the iconic American cheese. But weve cut a little deeper to find the real reason American cheese is dying. Heres what weve sliced up.
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Kraft American Cheese Singles Have Been Labeled A Health Food By Professional Nutritionists
Kraft Singles, a type of processed cheese that comes individually wrapped in a thin, plastic film, is the first food to receive the new Kids Eat Right label a stamp of approval designed by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to help families make healthier decisions in the grocery store.
The Kids Eat Right campaign is meant to raise awareness that the diets of Americas kids are lacking in three important components dairy, calcium and vitamin D, according to a statement from AND. But the news has been met with skepticism, if not outright derision.
At Mother Jones, food and agriculture correspondent Tom Philpott cites a 2013 report from food industry lawyer and researcher Michele Simon, which documented the strong and ever-growing financial ties between the Academy and big food companies, including Kraft.
Marion Nestle, Ph.d, M.P.H., a professor in the department of nutrition, food studies and public health at NYU, shared the news on her site Food Politics, with a parenthetical you cant make this stuff up.
Kraft is well known as a sponsor of AND, Nestle wrote. Such seals are usually money-raising gimmicks. Im wondering if proud supporter of means that Kraft pays AND for use of this seal. If so, Id like to know what the seal costs.
Comparatively, the ingredient list for a slice of Kraft American Cheese reads like a novel:
- Cheddar cheese
This Overlooked Kraft Cheese Is 10 Times Better Than Singles
If youre like most Americans, you probably have a package of Kraft Singles in your fridge right now. Its what most of us think of when we think of American cheese, and we absolutely have no quarrel with it. Its obviously processed and shouldnt even be compared to real, artisanally-produced cheese, but for what it is, its great. But theres another Kraft product right next to it on the shelf, one youre probably overlooking, thats far superior to your old-school Kraft Single: Deli Deluxe.
Slices of original Deli Deluxe cheese are slightly larger and more substantial than Singles, and if you were to do a side-by-side taste test, its just about impossible to not agree that Deli Deluxe slices are a higher quality. If you take a look at Serious Eats great rundown of the different types of American cheese, youll see that Deli Deluxe is in a league with the American cheese brands youll find at the deli counter, like Boars Head and Land OLakes, and because of the regulations on moisture and fat content , Deli Deluxe is allowed to be called simply pasteurized process cheese. Kraft Singles have a moisture content of no more than 44 percent and a fat content of no less than 23 percent as well as more approved added ingredients, so it has to be called pasteurized process cheese food. In short, Deli Deluxe is closer to real cheese than Singles, and it has a lower moisture content and a higher fat content.
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How To Make American Cheese
As our regular readers know, Ill go to my grave defending processed, pasteurized American cheese. I understand your objections to this position. Ive heard all of the arguments. Its bland. Its lowbrow. Heck, its not even technically cheese, but more of a sciency slurry of milk, whey, milkfat, artificial flavorings and oil, dyed orange and laid flat in individually-wrapped squares of cellophane. Thats why Kraft Singles arent called Kraft Cheese. It cant legally be sold that way, and must be referred to as processed cheese or cheese food, and that upsets consumers and reminds them that robots are in charge of the majority of the nations food supply. Its terrible stuff, devoid of any of the qualities that make cheese so much fun, leaving behind nothing but cynical, flavorless slabs of institutional runoff from a food production system run amok. It also happens to be the only cheese Ill consider for a cheeseburger.
- 1½ teaspoons powdered gelatin
- 12 ounces Colby Jack cheese, finely shredded
- 1 tablespoon nonfat milk powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
Lactose Intolerance A Sad Realization And An Ode To Kraft
Recently we discovered that my daughter is lactose intolerant. She had been dealing with stomach issues for at least a year. We had several tests run to rule out various other allergies such as wheat/gluten. As for lactose, the doctor just suggested not using it for a couple of weeks and seeing what happens. We did try to be careful but did not fully cut lactose out of her diet at that time as her symptoms seemed to subside.
A few months ago, my daughter got really sick. She was sick to her stomach and kept throwing up. After we ruled out the stomach flu or food poisoning, we narrowed it down to the crazy cheese fondue fest we had one evening. Since then we have really endeavored to change her, and our, eating habits. This has proved more difficult that we originally thought. We have friends that are allergic to all kinds of things and knew how to adjust the meal when they came to visit. Finding lactose-free food for every single day, 3-4 times a day has really been a challenge. Milk is in EVERY thing!
For example, one night she asked for a snack
- Cookies: Milk
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What Is Cheez Whiz Made Of
Ingredients: whey, milk, canola oil, whey protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, maltodextrin, contains less than 2% of milk protein concentrate, salt, lactic acid, sodium alginate, mustard flour, worcestershire sauce (vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, water, salt, caramel color, garlic powder, sugar, spices [contains
Big American Cheese Been Hit By Some Major Recalls
In the summer of 2015, Kraft Heinz started receiving strange phone calls. The first caller claimed theyd choked on a wrapper. So did the second.Then, a third caller claimed the same thing.
That summer, Kraft received 10 complaints about its packaging. The company issued a major recall, explaining in a press release that a thin strip of the individual packaging film may remain adhered to the slice. As representatives noted, if the film sticks to the slice and is not removed, it could potentially cause a choking hazard. The recall affected 36,000 cases of Kraft Singles shipped to the U.S. and around the world.
Not to single out Kraft, but this wouldnt be the first time the cheese empire has issued a recall. It recently issued a recall on its Taco Bell Salsa Con Queso Mild Cheese Dip after discovering the product showed signs it could permit the growth of botulism-causing bacteria. Before that, its iconic mac and cheese was recalled because some of the boxes contained small pieces of metal.
Scary recalls like that make it unsurprising that people are starting to tun away from processed cheese.
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Their Ingredient List Reads Like A Science Experiment
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Cheese shouldnt need an ingredient list, because it should just be made of cheese. From milk. The end. Meanwhile, Kraft Singles has 17 yeah, 17 ingredients.
The Kraft singles ingredient list consists of cheddar cheese, whey, water, protein concentrate, milk, sodium citrate, calcium phosphate, milkfat, gelatin, salt, sodium phosphate, lactic acid , annatto and paprika extract , enzymes, Vitamin A palmitate, cheese culture, and Vitamin D3. Phew.
Kraft Deli Deluxe American 2%
The only true American cheese in the batch, on par with what you’d get from the deli counter. Its use of 2% milk puts it on a more even footing with the rest of the regular cheese food products. Packaged like a fancy single on the outside, it proved itself to be a regular Eliza Dolittle on the inside, as the un-resealable wrapper revealed annoyingly smushed-together slices with nothing to separate them. This basically defeats the purpose of buying sit-in-your-fridge-forever cheese.
Nonetheless, it found redemption a few chews in. After a few seconds of nothing, a mild cheddar-like sharpness emerges as it warms up in your mouth, leaving you with a rich, salty aftertaste that lingers comfortably. With heat, it melted well naturallyfaster than Velveeta, actually, and second only to the original Kraft Single. In fact, it almost disappears when left to melt by itself. This was unexpected since cheese is supposed to stay solid longer than cheese food by theory of composition alone. Because it melted so quickly, though, microwaving it creates a skin, similar to the Borden.
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Kraft Velveeta Sharp Cheddar Cheese Slices
While this Kraft slice does have less calories and fat than your average American single, it does have substantially more sodium and a long and terrifying ingredient list. The first two ingredients of this slice are whey milk and milk protein concentrate, followed by modified food starch, gelatin. Are any of these things cheese? Move on.
All That Sodium Could Be Killing You
Why are millennials so determined to assassinate American cheese? It could be a defense mechanism. They want to kill American cheese before it can kill us.
All the excess sodium in American cheese and other processed foods is killing us by the millions, according to research presented by the American Heart Association in 2013. Their findings were was based on a 2010 Global Burden of Diseases study, which analyzed international adult sodium intake from 1990 to 2010. The study found that excessive sodium consumption contributed to 2.3 million deaths around the world in the form of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases. The study defined excessive sodium intake as more than 1,000 milligrams per day.
Currently, Americans eat a daily average of 3,400 milligrams of sodium. And where does more than 65 percent of that sodium come from? Not, as you might have thought, from the salt shaker its from processed foods like American cheese.
To give you some perspective: a single slice of Kraft cheese carries around 10 percent of your daily recommended sodium intake. Throw a slice on top of a burger with a tablespoon of ketchup , mustard , and mayonnaise , and youre looking at 1,000 milligrams of sodium packed into one meal.
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Lactalis Closes Acquisition Of Kraft Heinz Natural Cheese Business In United States
CHICAGO, November 29, 2021—-Lactalis Group , the world’s leading dairy group, today announced that its U.S. affiliate has completed its previously announced acquisition of The Kraft Heinz Companys natural, specialty and certain other cheese businesses in the United States, grated cheese business in Canada and entire international cheese business outside the United States and Canada. The companies entered into a definitive agreement on September 15, 2020.
With this acquisition, Lactalis acquires a portfolio of iconic cheese brands that includes Cracker Barrel®, Breakstones®, Knudsen®, Hoffmans® and a perpetual license for the use of the Kraft® brand in natural, grated and international cheeses. Lactalis also acquires the Cheez Whiz® brand outside the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and the Philippines and a license for the use of the Velveeta® brand in natural and international cheeses. The acquisition includes approximately 750 employees and three production facilities located in Tulare, CA, Walton, NY and Wausau, WI.
The acquired businesses in the United States will operate as Lactalis Heritage Dairy, a newly formed division of Lactalis based in Chicago, IL. Lactalis will invest significant resources in Lactalis Heritage Dairy employees and plants to continue growing this new business. The acquired businesses located outside of the United States will be integrated into existing Lactalis operations in countries where they currently reside.
About Lactalis Group
Producing Cheese Takes A Toll On The Environment
When it comes to proteins with a high-carbon footprint, cheese is among the worst of them right behind beef and lamb. Cheese gobbles up a high amount of resources because raising an animal that bears milk produces a lot of greenhouse gases. Because of the high quantities of methane emitted by dairy cows, these beasts have a global warming impact that is 25 times higher than carbon.
Many kinds of cheeses not just American can take a toll on the environment. But cheeses produced locally tend to be more environmentally friendly, especially ones that are crafted through sustainable, organic methods. Similarly, lower fat cheeses tend to have a smaller carbon footprint, in addition to being friendlier to your waistline. And the less processing cheese undergoes, the less resources it consumes.
In terms of green cheeses, your best bets are goat cheese, brie, and Camembert, as dairy researcher Steve Zeng explained in an interview with Slate. Highly processed American cheeses dont qualify.
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Is There Any Real American Cheese
4.1/5American cheesecheesecheesereal cheesecheesecheeseAmerican cheeses
American cheese isnt even considered to be real cheese. Its called a pasteurized cheese product. While it was originally a blend of different cheeses like Colby and cheddar, now the American cheese we see in the likes of Kraft Singles is not made with at least 51 percent of real cheese.
Also Know, do other countries have American cheese? The reason is that other countries have different standards for what can be called cheese. Processed Cheese by Americas standards isnt cheese by other countries standards. Thats American Cheese.
Consequently, what is American cheese made out of?
American cheese is processed cheese made from a blend of milk, milk fats and solids, with other fats and whey protein concentrate. At first, it was made from a mixture of cheeses, more often than not Colby and Cheddar.
Is white American cheese real cheese?
Modern American cheese is a type of processed cheese made from cheddar, colby, or similar cheeses. It can be yellow or white in color yellow American cheese is seasoned and colored with annatto. It originated in the 1910s and is a common staple in many American dishes.
Why Is American Cheese The Go
While I personally like Jarlsberg grilled cheese myself , American cheese is the resounding winner of melty cheeses. Why? Because it refuses to separate when melted, providing for a delectable pool of cheese atop cheeseburgers or when you make a mean grilled cheese sandwich and have cheese oozing out the sides as you slice it in half .
So, what is American cheese? In essence, not real cheese. And while now we might be more disenchanted by those slices we’d find at the store that come in that waxy plastic wrap, that doesn’t exactly deter me from buying them. They’re not an everyday type of cheese, but they’re good for some occasions. Especially if I’m in the mood for a really melty, scrumptious grilled cheese.
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