What Is Processed Cheese?

One day, due to a busy schedule with a limited lunch break, I quickly grabbed a lunch box (Schneiders Lunch Mate) from the supermarket. It’s likely designed for kids—very cute and just the right portion for them. The lunch box included wheat crackers, smoked ham, processed cheese food with cheddar, and a Kit Kat bar. After finishing it, I felt I had consumed enough calories (how convenient!). However, about half an hour later, my digestive system started reacting with indigestion, such as bloating and gas. I’m not sure if it’s because I have mild lactose intolerance, or if I should have checked what I had just eaten. So, I carefully looked at the ingredients in the lunch box, and one of them caught my attention: processed cheese food with cheddar!

Image Credit: Maple Leaf Foods/ Lunch Mate™️

Besides the main ingredients—cheese, water, and salt—I noticed that the processed cheese also included modified milk ingredients, β-apo-8′-carotenal (coloring), citric acid (which accelerates milk acidification and coagulation), potassium sorbate (a preservative), and sodium citrate (which improves flavor and acts as a preservative). Although it’s unclear whether digesting these processed ingredients caused my discomfort, the experience was vastly different from when I ate mozzarella cheese in a restaurant. Therefore, I searched YouTube for videos on how to make mozzarella cheese at home and discovered that the ingredients are surprisingly simple. It only requires five ingredients: milk, citric acid, water, rennet (natural bacterial culture), and salt.

Image Credit: Fresco fresh/ What is Mozzarella cheese

After this experience, I realized that additives could cause discomfort and burden my digestive system. Additionally, while investigating the function of these additives, I learned that potassium sorbate is considered a suspected carcinogen in Europe. Therefore, in the future, when buying cheese and processed cheese, I will prioritize fresh, preservative-free cheese and then opt for processed cheese with fewer additives.

Image Credit: Michelin Guide/ Ask the experts: how to store cheese

Here are some reminders about the storage of dairy products referenced from BC Campus:

  1. The recommended storage temperature is 2°C to 4°C (36°F to 39°F).
  2. The fat in dairy products absorbs odors from the fridge environment, so properly covering and storing them in a separate area can effectively reduce this issue.
  3. When selecting suppliers of dairy products, one should consider the delivery time. Ideally, such products should be delivered daily.

If you like to know more about how to do fridge storage management simply and effectively, please feel free to contact us!

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