Everyone likes cheese. I love it, but I’ve always been leery of dairy products labeled as “cheese food” or “cheese product” What the hell does that mean? Is it cheese or not? American cheese, Cheese Whiz, and Velveeta are the first things that usually come to mind when I think of “cheese food”. Cheese food doesn’t even sound like a tasty, healthy option, so I used to try and stay away from the stuff. Turns out that as far as nutrition goes, it’s not that different from most types of real cheese.
Cheese food/spread/product is sold under these names because it does not meet the legal definition of cheese according to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations and cannot legal be called cheese. To be considered “cheese food” the product must contains at least 51% natural cheeses by weight, have a moisture content of 41%, and a milk fat content of at least 23% according to U.S. regulations. Cheese food may contain one or more different types of cheeses to comprise 51% of the product. Depending on the different percentages of cheese and moisture a product contains, it may be called cheese spread or cheese product.
Cheese food and it’s smooth, creamy, not-quite-real-cheese brethren usually tend to melt more evenly and does not separate like real cheese. While it can contain a higher percentage of vegetable oil and fat, the caloric difference isn’t that far from real cheese. Efforts are now being made to infuse cheese food with calcium and other minerals found in higher amounts in cheese.
So all and all, cheese food and the like aren’t so bad. They just got shafted by the the federal regulations that gave them unappetizing names.

Courtesy of SEO Company

Related Posts