Something cheesy is going on

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Cheese is one of the most beloved foods in the world. Its variety is almost unfathomably vast and it comes in just as many forms. The most recognized and popular cheese is arguably parmigiano-reggiano or parmesan for short. It is packed full of umami flavor, slight creaminess and wood pulp.

Yes. You read that right. The parmesan you’re shaving on your pasta and salads may contain wood pulp. The FDA conducted an investigation against Pennsylvania-based company, Cheese Castle and they determined that the company’s “100 percent parmesan cheese contained fillers of cellulose, wood pulp and cheddar, but no real parmesan. The president of the company will plead guilty to criminal charges and potentially get a year in prison and a $100,000 dollar fine, according to Bloomberg News.

Unfortunately, Cheese Castle’s deception is not an isolated incident. Bloomberg News conducted their own investigation of other store-bought cheeses and consulted Dean Sommer, a cheese technologist at the Center for Dairy Research in Madison, Wisconsin, about what cheese was safe to eat. Sommer says 2 to 4 percent cellulose is “ok” to consume. So how do some of the products stack up?

Bloomberg News’s tests found that cheeses, like Jewel-Osco’s Essential Everyday 100 Percent Grated Parmesan Cheese, were 8.8 percent cellulose. Walmart’s Great Value 100 Percent Grated Parmesan Cheese was 7.8 percent. Kraft came in safe at only 3.8 percent and Whole Foods 365 brand, which didn’t list any cellulose on its label, contained 0.3 percent.

Don’t be scared. Sommer is correct in saying that a small percentage of cellulose is safe to eat. Jeff Potter, author of Cooking for Geeks remarks “Cellulose is a non-digestible plant fiber and we actually happen to need non-digestible vegetable fiber in our food—that’s why people eat bran flakes and psyllium husks.”

It is also crucial to note that cellulose can actually be created from almost any plant-based material. The cellulose in your parmesan could come from wood, corn husks, or that crate of apples that wasn’t sold in the market. When these plant based substances became cellulose, they are essentially a tasteless powder. It is as much of a filler to take up space as fake food in a model home.

Cellulose is in a lot of foods already. It is sought after for its dryness because it can absorb moisture in foods and reduce spoilage. It also generates a less slimy texture than other additives like agar. Cellulose can also copy the characteristics of luscious foods without adding calories or fat.

Adding fillers to products is an easy way to take economic or productivity shortcuts. Real parmigiano-reggiano cheese by European law has to contain only three ingredients: milk (produced from the parma/reggiano region of Italy in less than 20 hours from cow to cheese processing), salt and rennet (a natural enzyme from the calf intestine.) If the cheese does not meet these specific regulations in Europe, it cannot be called and sold as parmigiano-reggiano. Other additives such as cellulose, cheese cultures and potassium sorbate are illegal in the production of real parigiano-reggiano. In America, the rules for cheese production are less stringent and the cheese is often simply called parmesan cheese because it’s not parmigiano-reggiano.

In other words, be sure to identify whether you are eating parmigiano-reggiano or parmesan. Or shave your own cheese. I don’t recommend eating foods with lots of fillers or additives. Just take things with a grain of salt, or in this case, a grate of cheese.

That comes with complications as well. Ordinary grocery stores and markets are home to a cornucopia of high-end sounding “real” parmigiano-reggiano. Of course, the most common is the simple parmesan, but other monikers include parmigiana, parmesana, parmabon, real parma, parmesan and parmezano. In 2008, European court put into effect that parmigiano-reggiano could be the only hard cheese called parmesan.

Sadly, European mandates do not apply here.