How is shredded cheese made

All that is left when wood fiber is processed for food use is cellulose. We as humans lack the ability to break down cellulose, unlike say, a termite or cow or horse or bacteria, so we derive no nutrition from it. It passes right through our digestive tract, but we do derive some benefit as fiber. The chemical processing of the wood does not appreciably change the chemical structure of the cellulose making it suddenly toxic or anything.

The chemicals, which are actually very common, nothing exotic, cook away the lignin and some of the cellulose components. They are then washed out and recovered for recycling back in the process. The cooking is all done under high temperature and pressure. It is quite possible to make wood pulp in your kitchen, just not as fast.

I will say though that breathing wood dust is not healthy. That has been shown to cause cancer in people who inhale a lot of it. It is a little like asbestos in that regard. Some people are also allergic to wood dust.

If you were allergic to cellulose, you would probably quickly die. So if you feel you are allergic to the added cellulose, I suggest you are barking up the wrong tree, pun intended, and you need to find another culprit. Maybe you are allergic to casein, OMG, another chemical!

I was eating high fiber English Muffins and found that I was having trouble with my stomach and after removing them from my diet I realized that It was the cellulose that was causing the problems. If you want fiber just take bran or some other form but be warned cellulose can cause problems. I found this blog because I have had stomach problems after eating Kraft shredded cheese.

This was the only change to my diet each of the last three times I have had stomach issues. It has changed things for me dramatically. On the other hand, I have found that I have become more susceptible to some ingredients when I get things that I have cut from my diet for the past 2 years.

I believe there may be a link to the way this cellulose is processed. Any ideas? Cheese sauces are taking me longer, and we just made a casserole where the cheese hardly looks melted at all. I found this article while searching for an explanation. Then I guess plants are unnatural, because cellulose is the main structural element that holds them together. So if the food industry wants to use this as an anti-caking agent for products like shredded cheese, I see nothing wrong with it.

There are far more important food issues to worry about than this. In humans, it has a secondary role. It acts as a lubricant for our digestive system. That includes fruits and vegetables. The potential problem here is that we are not talking about eating a whole plant, cellulose and all, but extracting one chemical from it and adding it to animal products like cheese or milk. Sometimes, this can have unforeseen consequences.

For instance, it was found that nitrates normal chemicals found in plants can combine with amino acids in meats to create carcinogens. Not all traditional methods of doing things are.

Is it a little weird to put saw dust in your cottage cheese? Could there be negative consequences? But in the grand scheme of things, we do much weirder things than that.

So, this is a pretty small fish to fry in an ocean filled great white sharks. Clearly there are worst food additives than cellulose. But there is a good argument for whole and minimally processed foods as a general rule.

Fructose can be found in every piece of fruit and in most vegetables. Fructose in low concentrations mixed with the proper amounts of dietary fiber cellulose, etc. High concentrations of fructose in a soft drink, on the other hand, are a formula for disaster. You might suggest that high fructose corn syrup is no worse than table sugar. And you are probably right. Just as it might be fair to compare poison hemlock to cobra venom. The difference being the dramatic difference in the health benefits of fruit versus soft drinks, and the more subtle difference in health benefits of sugar cane versus cotton candy.

Another interesting bit of whole food trivia. The deadly nightshade group of plants. It includes potatoes, tomatoes, peppers… Alright, maybe not so deadly in all cases. But the alkaloids in these plants natural insecticides could make a pretty lethal food additive if it were extracted and concentrated, like we do in the case of other naturally occurring substances.

So, we need to be careful. This is the stupidest article I have ever read. I loved reading about this. I just read in consumer reports that there is also an anit fungal ingredient in the packaged shredded cheese..

Thanks for info. Not so. None of your quotes or facts backed you up in the slightest. You could have made a case by investigating more into the process of how cellulose is extracted. There also could have been a case if the waste from using those chemicals is harmful for the environment.

But who knows? No one would, based on this article. All I can tell from this article is that both the government and nutritionists believe cellulose to be a safe additive that reduces the need for fat in foods while increasing the amount of fiber and creating a creamy mouth-feel. Can any suggest , in the production of cheese when microcrystalline cellulose added in the Cheese???

We just had an interesting thing happen to our bulk shredded cheese. I thought it smelled off when I re-opened it, but not in a -it went bad- way. And there was no visible mold. I figured it was just because this blend had provolone, which is different than our normal Mexican blend. So I made some quick quesadillas with it, and while eating I put my finger on it.

Somehow fermentation had started in the bag. I was smelling the yeast having a good time. Probably on that nice easy processed cellulose powder that was supposed to keep the cheese separated it had started to clump Back to smaller bags for our quesadilla snacks meals. The quality matters most not just the amount. I think the way this article is written is too overheated against cellulose which is not the real enemy. It is written to people with no awareness of what they eat too.

With health problems etc.. One: they are not even looking for articles like this. They will see just cellulose equals bad. As the masses of people not building up their own knowledge about the theme. There are differences between chemicals and chemicals and used methods. Everything is made of chemicals and our own body uses chemicals.. It sounds wrong just talking about bad chemicals..

We are humans with a piece of mind. Yes there are risks in everything. These are simple natural chemical processes. To make pulp. They have bacterial methods just not working for the big masses. It is possible there are manufacturers not controlled but they cannot deliver to organic companies.

You can repeat the process in your kitchen to make cellulose. You just need a lot equipment and space. If I am sarcastic they had really brutal chemicals I guess.

Cellulose has a lot benefit. We talk about make better food for the junk food eaters. A most average dish of food can be considered as junk. Low fat products are somewhat safe. I would not tell a kg women to eat the full fat one as it is good for her.

There are other aspects of being healthy. We should add I think eat the full fat product but half the amount. Then it is healthier. Each an every person is different. You cannot say this is bad unless it is containing like chromium. After-all it is natural selection. Just bought a container of Aged Cheddar shredded from Canada.

Contains cellulose and natamycin. Should have read this article first. Use Indian spices bought individually from bulk at health food store. Plus — have never been on the usual horriffic pharma or other drugs that most of my similar age friends and acquaintances are!!!

Have a nice day, I never wrote on the internet before, only to sign petitions for the Cornucopia Institute — look them up if you will. I turned to natural foods because of migraine. I had a really bad one today because I ate a mcgriddle on Monday. Thanks for sharing this information with me. I found it to be helpful and informative.

Thanks for doing all that research. Love your style. Great role model for mothers Thank you for your info. I will be buying block cheese from now on! Thanks so much for the information. Thanks again for helping us out. Everything that God made us good.

However, it should be advertised the content of ingredients found in food. By name. Why does Hills Prescription food for dogs have cellulose powder as the 2nd ingredient and corn starch as the first.. I am allergic to cellulose. It is even in all the tylenol now.

A look at the labelling on some shredded cheese will uncover three ingredients that are most uncheese-like: potato starch, natamycin, and powdered cellulose.

Potato starch is pretty much as advertised; it is normally used commercially as a thickener, and helps keeps cheese shreds from clumping together via KCET. Joining potato starch is natamycin, which is a mold inhibitor, so it keeps shredded cheese fresh. The antifungal ingredient is produced naturally by a soil bacteria.

As Slate puts it, you might be grossed out at the thought of eating the byproduct of a dirt bug, but it is natural, and unlikely to cause any side effects or serious harm, because it is poorly absorbed by the body. Nonetheless, Whole Foods has put natamycin on its list on unacceptable food ingredients. Icon: Music Through the Lens. The Latino Experience.

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