Kraft Slices Are Not “Cheese”

Kraft cheese. A rather deathly pale, chemicalized product referred to as “food.” In their (Kraft) words:

“A thin strip of the individual packaging film may remain adhered to the slice after the wrapper has been removed. If he film sticks to the slice and is not removed, it could potentially cause a choking hazard.”

Although this is barely sarcasm, there is almost no difference between the “cheese” and the wrapper, except one has been made to be able to swallow and the other, not. With all the recent exposure due to the recall, I understand that food manufacturing and processing involves risks and human error, so that is the least of the problem, or so I think.

The elephant in the room is this: what is it going to take for folks to stop relying on the most convenience in terms of what they put into their bodies? People still buy this fake food, en masse. With so many easy, still-convenient choices for real cheese at bargain or decent prices, why do people reach for the worst of the bunch? It is because Kraft sliced “cheese,” individually wrapped, is what they know and what they are used to buying. To purchase anything else, for much of the masses, would require some original thought, a new choice, a step out of the comfort zone. Food choice should never been confined within a comfort zone because we live in times where technology, ingenuity, and entrepreneurial freedom are rapidly evolving and allowing all of us – rich, poor, and the middle class – to have more and better choices.

Folks have asked me, “Karen, how is Kraft not cheese?” To them, the ingredients look “normal” for cheese. But really? Look at the photo of the Kraft package (I dare not call it cheese) in the article. It clearly says “Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product.” It does not say “Cheese.” It is an industrial, processed cheese that does not “qualify” to be cheese because FDA regulations forbid this product to be called as such due to the too-low cheese content. Have you ever looked at the color of this product? Might that have been a hint?

As long as Big Food keeps selling convenience, individually wrapped and all, the medical-pharmaceutical complex is well-placed to keep people semi-comatose and alive until their 80s, with quality of life not ever being an issue.