Seafood, olive oil and "artisanal" chocolate—just a few of the things likely to be something other than what they're purporting to be. The same apparently goes for parmesan cheese, as it's possible the white powder we've been raining down on our homemade ziti may actually be wood pulp. How could those vacuum-sealed, shelf-stable bottles lie to us?
Today, Bloomberg takes a look at the rampant fraud in the grated cheese industry, peeling back the label on some claims of authenticity used by certain brands. Their investigation uncovered store brands like those sold at Wal-Mart employing nearly double the acceptable amounts of cellulose—an anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp—while claiming on the label to be 100% parmesan.
A 2012 inspection by the FDA of a rural Pennsylvania cheese manufacturer tested batches of "100% real parmesan" and discovered not a trace of parmesan. Instead, they found "a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose." It's not an isolated practice. One industry insider estimates that 20% of hard cheese production in the United States is mislabeled—to the tune of $375 million in sales—and that grated cheese is particularly problematic, where "less than 40 percent of the product was actually a cheese product."
While easy and enticing, reaching for the green bottle at the supermarket's probably not the most credible way to add some aged cheese to your food. Buying the block and shaving as you go is the simplest way to avoid being cheated, especially if you're buying from a reputable source. Or just embrace your inner Groot and welcome the cellulose into your body—apparently it's a good source of fiber!
