more wood pulp than parmesan in "100%" parmesan cheese?

[Elixer]

The FDA tells us that cheese you are shaking on your pasta could be more wood pulp than parmesan.

I knew something was off with the "100% parmesan chesese" I had, and now, I know I was eating mostly wood pulp.

Castle, the Pennsylvania company the FDA investigated, had no parmesan cheese in its products labeled "100 percent parmesan." Instead, they contained a mix Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA.

Damn them for messing with my cheese!
Time to go block only... then again, how do we know the block of parmesan cheese is actually parmesan cheese?

 

[lxskllr]

cellulose keeps the powder free flowing. The alternative is a clumpy mess and you might as well use block in that case.

 

[Ns1]

castle seems like a legitimate POS. the rest of it...

The results showed many supermarkets’ parmesan cheese suffered from the same issue — although cellulose is considered a safe additive as long as it doesn’t exceed 4 percent of the final product, according to Dean Sommer, a cheese technologist at the Center for Dairy Research in Madison, Wisconsin.

Bloomberg found the following:

• Walmart grated parmesan came in at 7.8 percent cellulose
• Essential Everyday 100 percent Grated Parmesan Cheese, from Jewel-Osco, registered at 8.8 percent
• Whole Foods 365 brand, which didn’t list cellulose as an ingredient on the label, tested at 0.3 percent
• Kraft had 3.8 percent

Seems like there is a pretty easy solution though?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

castle seems like a legitimate POS. the rest of it...



Seems like there is a pretty easy solution though?

That looks like work. People don't like work. That's why instead of buying a few whole vegetables for a couple of bucks and chopping them for a stir fry, people will pay $6 for a fraction of each vegetable already chopped and put in a plastic container labeled "stir fry vegetables."

 

[Imp]

If it ain't toxic, I ain't got no problem!

 

[Newbian]

If it ain't toxic, I ain't got no problem!

Beavers seem happy so I guess they are onto something.

 

[Jaepheth]

Good; my fat ass doesn't need any more cheese anyways.

 

[FeuerFrei]

What galls me is the fact they put the "100%" claim on the label because they know savvy people suspect it's diluted with filler, so they seek to reassure them it's purely parmesan inside. But that's a straight up lie.

The key words are "Made with" i.e. there is pure parmesan within - true enough, yet the falsehood is that the canister doesn't contain 100% parmesan. Cellulose is listed in the ingredients, so obviously it can't be filled with 100% parmesan.

 

[Puffnstuff]

That food grade wood pump comes from various places including Brazil and cellulose can be found in a great many dried foods today including cereal and pasta. Next time you're grocery shopping pick up a box of something and check the ingredient list.

 

[Elixer]

What galls me is the fact they put the "100%" claim on the label because they know savvy people suspect it's diluted with filler, so they seek to reassure them it's purely parmesan inside. But that's a straight up lie.

The key words are "Made with" i.e. there is pure parmesan within - true enough, yet the falsehood is that the canister doesn't contain 100% parmesan. Cellulose is listed in the ingredients, so obviously it can't be filled with 100% parmesan.

Pretty much this, this is just plain & simple deceptive.
FDA should be cracking down on all these companies that pull this kind of stunt.

Yeah, I know cellulose is used as a anti-clumping agent, that doesn't really bug me that much, it is just the fact that they are trying to say "100% Parmesan cheese" is BS.

Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese
Wal-Mart Great Value 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese
Target Market Pantry Parmesan 100% Grated Cheese
Essential Everyday 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese

 

[Humpy]

Pretty much this, this is just plain & simple deceptive.
FDA should be cracking down on all these companies that pull this kind of stunt.

Yeah, I know cellulose is used as a anti-clumping agent, that doesn't really bug me that much, it is just the fact that they are trying to say "100% Parmesan cheese" is BS.

It doesn't say "100% Parmesan Cheese" though.


It says "100% Grated Parmesan Cheese", meaning it's fully grated.

 

[Carson Dyle]

What galls me is the fact they put the "100%" claim on the label because they know savvy people suspect it's diluted with filler, so they seek to reassure them it's purely parmesan inside. But that's a straight up lie.

The key words are "Made with" i.e. there is pure parmesan within - true enough, yet the falsehood is that the canister doesn't contain 100% parmesan. Cellulose is listed in the ingredients, so obviously it can't be filled with 100% parmesan.

There is no such thing as parmesan cheese. So if someone invented a sawdust-like grated foodstuff that they call "parmesan" and that stuff contains cellulose, then there's no reason they can't say it's "100% parmesan".

If you want the real thing - imported Parmigiano-Reggiano - expect to pay 6 to 10 times as much per pound as that plastic tub of Kraft Parmesan you buy down at Piggly Wiggly.

 

[IEC]

I buy the real Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is indescribably better than the powdered cellulose.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not surprising, these days you can't really trust that your food is really what it says it is. Sometimes it's not harmful but other times it could be. Normally you can read the ingredients to find out though but they can hide it under something general like "and other ingredients". A trick I've seen is "made with 100% real fruit juice". Yeah, real fruit juice is one of the ingredients, so it's made with it, but it does not mean it IS that. The rest is sugar and other crap.

 

[Anubis]

there was a big stink about this last year or maybe before that, cellulose is in fucking everything.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Makes you wonder how it's even legal to put what is basically a construction product in food. I guess it's technically an organic compound... Wood pulp is not too bad I guess, but cellulose is typically treated with fire retardant, so not sure how good that is for you. Great for your attic, not great for your body.

At least it's not Owens Corning fibreglass insulation.

 

[Ruptga]

What galls me is the fact they put the "100%" claim on the label because they know savvy people suspect it's diluted with filler, so they seek to reassure them it's purely parmesan inside. But that's a straight up lie.

The key words are "Made with" i.e. there is pure parmesan within - true enough, yet the falsehood is that the canister doesn't contain 100% parmesan. Cellulose is listed in the ingredients, so obviously it can't be filled with 100% parmesan.

Another classic is "100% beef" patties. Beef chuck, beef sinews, beef bone, beef viscera, it's all real beef.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah "made with" is a key word. A cake can be made with 100% poultry eggs. Eggs are one of the ingredients that go into making the cake, and if they are indeed all poultry eggs, then that statement is true. Seeing the word 100% just makes you think the entire product is 100% that, but it's really just an unnecessary modifier.

 

[Humpy]

 

[Cheesemoo]

What galls me is the fact they put the "100%" claim on the label because they know savvy people suspect it's diluted with filler, so they seek to reassure them it's purely parmesan inside. But that's a straight up lie.

The key words are "Made with" i.e. there is pure parmesan within - true enough, yet the falsehood is that the canister doesn't contain 100% parmesan. Cellulose is listed in the ingredients, so obviously it can't be filled with 100% parmesan.

The cheese portion of the product is 100% parm

 

[FeuerFrei]

The cheese portion of the product is 100% parm

Yes, that's what I gather.

 

[lupi]

If you don't want to break out the block and grinder each time, is there a list of no filler varieties?

 

[BurnItDwn]

Yea, I prefer to buy the block of parmesean, but the woman is lazy and puts "wood salt" on everything. meh

 

[JulesMaximus]

There is no such thing as parmesan cheese. So if someone invented a sawdust-like grated foodstuff that they call "parmesan" and that stuff contains cellulose, then there's no reason they can't say it's "100% parmesan".

If you want the real thing - imported Parmigiano-Reggiano - expect to pay 6 to 10 times as much per pound as that plastic tub of Kraft Parmesan you buy down at Piggly Wiggly.

I keep a block of Pecorino Romano cheese in our refrigerator and that is what we put on pasta in our house. Just grate as much as you need and spoon it on your pasta. It is tasty!

 

[Kaido]

I buy the real Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is indescribably better than the powdered cellulose.

That plus my SaladShooter for insta-grating = win!

The stuff in the bottles never had much flavor to me anyway.