So you know how parmesan cheese is like the best thing ever and you put it on literally everything? But you buy the grated stuff, because you’re not made of money. Well, turns out that your favorite cheese may actually contain some ingredients that are, well…not cheese, according to a recent news report.
Bloomberg News tested store-bought grated cheeses for cellulose, “a common anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp” and revealed that all of the cheeses contained it, ranging from .3 percent to 8.8 percent. Not exactly what you want to be hearing as you sprinkle some cheese on top of your pasta after class.
Although the idea of having wood in your cheese sounds gross, Bloomberg does stress that cellulose is a safe additive, but only typically between 2 percent and 4 percent—way less than what many of the cheeses they tested had in them.
Walmart’s Great Value 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese registered 7.8 percent cellulose, while Jewel-Osco’s Essential Everyday 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese had 8.8 percent. In comparison, Kraft had 3.8 percent, Business Insider reports.
You may be thinking, I shop at Whole Foods, my cheese is safe. Well, sorry to burst your bubble but Whole Foods 365 Parmesan tested at .3 percent cellulose, even though they do not list it as an ingredient. Whole Foods is investigating the matter and told Bloomberg that they believe that the test may have been a false positive.
Even more annoying—Market Pantry 100% grated Parmesan Cheese was found by the FDA to be manufactured with “no parmesan cheese,” but rather with a mix of other cheeses (like Swiss and mozzerella) and cellulose. If you’re going to label something parmesan cheese, maybe make sure it contains at least some parmesan.
If you were wondering why these companies choose to add in the extra ingredient, it is (of course) because it costs less than adding in more pure Parmesan. It’s all about the money!
Well, either way, I think I am gonna switch to cheddar.