4 ms·

FDA finds wood pulp in major American parmesan cheese brands (2016)

38 points by znpy 5y ago

encryptluks2 5y ago
Up to a year in prison and a $100k fine.. wow, people get more time for smoking marijuana in the Midwest. Seems like as long as you're a company, you can do pretty much anything and the consequences are minor.
- thisiswater 5y ago
  The consequences are pathetic. I'd speculate they wouldn't be going to the roughest of prisons either.
- spoonjim 5y ago
  I’m sure that this doesn’t happen to the well-connected, but China executes people for corporate crime (this one killed six children): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/24/china-executes-milk-scandal-pair https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/24/china-executes...
NationalPark 5y ago
Needs a (2016), it's an old story.
aphextron 5y ago
I thought this was well known? The Kraft Parmesan cheese bottle literally lists "cellulose powder" on the ingredients. Never buy that crap.
- yunohn 5y ago
  Why are HNers so dismissive? Every single story like this has an inevitable "thought this was well known" comment. Most of the general population, would assume that a 100% cheese should not contain wood pulp. The article mentions multiple brands that were "mislabelled", which is clear-cut fraud. Further, most of them did not list cellulose in the ingredients. Even if they did, I'm not sure how lay-people are supposed to understand that this means it is artificial.
- ta988 5y ago
  Not just the parmesan from that company needs to be avoided.
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    The strength of the Kraft branding allows them to sell the worst shit.
LatteLazy 5y ago
If you like this, wait until you look at the "acceptable levels of rat feces" the FDA sets for many us "foods" https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-standards-brexit-uk-us-trade-deal-maggots-rat-hair-worms-insects-mould-products-a8575721.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-standar...
- jolux 5y ago
  I feel this story is under-investigated…are the EU food safety standards really zero tolerance for stuff like that? How do manufacturers meet those standards? Is food contamination a substantially bigger problem in the US than the EU?
  - refactor_master 5y ago
    From what I could find it seems the EU does not actually set enforceable tolerance levels for “light filth” other than a vague “zero-tolerance”. It is, however, pretty obviously stated what the tolerance levels are for different known toxins. For example, for Denmark, the acceptable standard where no limits are set is “if it’s not dangerous, doesn’t change the food properties significantly and nobody complains”. See also https://techround.co.uk/business/american-food-standards/ https://techround.co.uk/business/american-food-standards/
    - jolux 5y ago
      That’s roughly what I expected. Of course we would like to imagine that it’s feasible to hit a zero-tolerance target, but at the scale at which food manufacture happens, reasonable and strict maximums are the best we can manage, as long as the products are still safe. That and I knew the FDA was considered one of the top agencies of its kind for quite a while, though I don’t know if this is still the case.
whatever1 5y ago
There is a nice anecdote in the chemical industry, that the biggest US customer for lignin (wood pulp), is not a paper company, but rather a restaurant chain that uses it in their ground meat.
- jessaustin 5y ago
  Personally, I usually avoid the "beef" items at Taco Bell, although apparently it's an open question whether the lignin might actually make the "beef" healthier.
jowday 5y ago
It sounds like the fine is for labeling it "100% cheese", not for putting wood pulp in the cheese? Most brands openly list that their grated cheeses contain wood pulp as "cellulose powder" or something similar. I think the title is a little misleading.
crazygringo 5y ago
First, this is old news. And second, it's non-news. It's entirely intentional and desired. "Wood pulp" is a sensationalistic term for "cellulose", which is clearly listed in the ingredients. Cellulose is used to coat the cheese to prevent it from clumping and sticking to itself. Whenever you buy crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola it has tons of cellulose added, or else it would basically just turn into a paste instead of staying crumbled.
- TwoBit 5y ago
  Why the $100K fine then?
  - jowday 5y ago
    Because they advertised it as "100% cheese". It's a fine for misleading advertising, not for putting wood pulp in the cheese.
    - lolinder 5y ago
      Edit: as pointed out below, I misunderstood. It was not actually parmesan, but it did have cheese. From the Bloomberg article: > Instead, there was a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA. My original comment preserved for history: > It's worse than that: that company advertised it as 100% cheese and it was actually 0% cheese. Not just that it had additives, it wasn't cheese at all.
      - pitaj 5y ago
        It's not that it wasn't cheese, it's that it was entirely cheese that wasn't parmesan.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - crazygringo 5y ago
fuddddds 5y ago
The headline is misleading, the FDA found cellulose powder, made from wood, probably a benign preservative, in cheap parmesans. One brand had no parmesan, got sued. Some other "good" brand claims 20% of their competitors are "wood" Combine this with general skepticism towards Time due to awareness of Gell-Mann Amnesia and knowing how bad their reporting often is, are we sure this article isn't actually native marketing for "Arthur Shcuman Inc" (sic), the "good" brand in the article? Seems like a lot of FUD about a filler in a processed food product, to me. Powdered parmesan like the kind described in the article is obviously heavily processed and is often shelf stable. Who on earth thought this was 100% fresh dairy?
- tellmelies 5y ago
  The label actually says "100% grated", not cheese. It is intentionally misleading and it's obviously working.
ArtDev 5y ago
Well, I was going to comment that everyone already knows that low-quality Parmesan (like Kraft) contains "sawdust" (listed as cellulose powder). Apparently, the HN crowd already knew this even though its not common knowledge. Are readers of HN unusually curious people? I think so. Regardless, there are much much worse things in processed foods than sawdust. It doesn't suprise me that Walmart "100% cheese" is actually 7.8% sawdust. I bet Walmart brand honey is also very impure, regardless what the label says.
gundmc 5y ago
Please add a (2016) tag.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ecommerceguy 5y ago
Freshly grated parm is sooo much better anyways.
boxed 5y ago
So you can make parmesan cheese from totally vegan sources? That's amazing news! Just needs better branding!
underseacables 5y ago
I remember this craze. For a while it spawned non cellulose varieties but honest to hell it’s just not a problem.

38 points by znpy 5y ago

Up to a year in prison and a $100k fine.. wow, people get more time for smoking marijuana in the Midwest. Seems like as long as you're a company, you can do pretty much anything and the consequences are minor.

thisiswater 5y ago
The consequences are pathetic. I'd speculate they wouldn't be going to the roughest of prisons either.
spoonjim 5y ago
I’m sure that this doesn’t happen to the well-connected, but China executes people for corporate crime (this one killed six children): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/24/china-executes-milk-scandal-pair https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/24/china-executes...

NationalPark 5y ago

Needs a (2016), it's an old story.

aphextron 5y ago

I thought this was well known? The Kraft Parmesan cheese bottle literally lists "cellulose powder" on the ingredients. Never buy that crap.

yunohn 5y ago
Why are HNers so dismissive? Every single story like this has an inevitable "thought this was well known" comment. Most of the general population, would assume that a 100% cheese should not contain wood pulp. The article mentions multiple brands that were "mislabelled", which is clear-cut fraud. Further, most of them did not list cellulose in the ingredients. Even if they did, I'm not sure how lay-people are supposed to understand that this means it is artificial.
ta988 5y ago
Not just the parmesan from that company needs to be avoided.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  The strength of the Kraft branding allows them to sell the worst shit.

LatteLazy 5y ago

If you like this, wait until you look at the "acceptable levels of rat feces" the FDA sets for many us "foods" https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-standards-brexit-uk-us-trade-deal-maggots-rat-hair-worms-insects-mould-products-a8575721.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-standar...

jolux 5y ago
I feel this story is under-investigated…are the EU food safety standards really zero tolerance for stuff like that? How do manufacturers meet those standards? Is food contamination a substantially bigger problem in the US than the EU?
- refactor_master 5y ago
  From what I could find it seems the EU does not actually set enforceable tolerance levels for “light filth” other than a vague “zero-tolerance”. It is, however, pretty obviously stated what the tolerance levels are for different known toxins. For example, for Denmark, the acceptable standard where no limits are set is “if it’s not dangerous, doesn’t change the food properties significantly and nobody complains”. See also https://techround.co.uk/business/american-food-standards/ https://techround.co.uk/business/american-food-standards/
  - jolux 5y ago
    That’s roughly what I expected. Of course we would like to imagine that it’s feasible to hit a zero-tolerance target, but at the scale at which food manufacture happens, reasonable and strict maximums are the best we can manage, as long as the products are still safe. That and I knew the FDA was considered one of the top agencies of its kind for quite a while, though I don’t know if this is still the case.

whatever1 5y ago

There is a nice anecdote in the chemical industry, that the biggest US customer for lignin (wood pulp), is not a paper company, but rather a restaurant chain that uses it in their ground meat.

jessaustin 5y ago
Personally, I usually avoid the "beef" items at Taco Bell, although apparently it's an open question whether the lignin might actually make the "beef" healthier.

jowday 5y ago

It sounds like the fine is for labeling it "100% cheese", not for putting wood pulp in the cheese? Most brands openly list that their grated cheeses contain wood pulp as "cellulose powder" or something similar. I think the title is a little misleading.

crazygringo 5y ago

First, this is old news. And second, it's non-news. It's entirely intentional and desired. "Wood pulp" is a sensationalistic term for "cellulose", which is clearly listed in the ingredients. Cellulose is used to coat the cheese to prevent it from clumping and sticking to itself. Whenever you buy crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola it has tons of cellulose added, or else it would basically just turn into a paste instead of staying crumbled.

TwoBit 5y ago
Why the $100K fine then?
- jowday 5y ago
  Because they advertised it as "100% cheese". It's a fine for misleading advertising, not for putting wood pulp in the cheese.
  - lolinder 5y ago
    Edit: as pointed out below, I misunderstood. It was not actually parmesan, but it did have cheese. From the Bloomberg article: > Instead, there was a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA. My original comment preserved for history: > It's worse than that: that company advertised it as 100% cheese and it was actually 0% cheese. Not just that it had additives, it wasn't cheese at all.
    - pitaj 5y ago
      It's not that it wasn't cheese, it's that it was entirely cheese that wasn't parmesan.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
- crazygringo 5y ago

fuddddds 5y ago

The headline is misleading, the FDA found cellulose powder, made from wood, probably a benign preservative, in cheap parmesans. One brand had no parmesan, got sued. Some other "good" brand claims 20% of their competitors are "wood" Combine this with general skepticism towards Time due to awareness of Gell-Mann Amnesia and knowing how bad their reporting often is, are we sure this article isn't actually native marketing for "Arthur Shcuman Inc" (sic), the "good" brand in the article? Seems like a lot of FUD about a filler in a processed food product, to me. Powdered parmesan like the kind described in the article is obviously heavily processed and is often shelf stable. Who on earth thought this was 100% fresh dairy?

tellmelies 5y ago
The label actually says "100% grated", not cheese. It is intentionally misleading and it's obviously working.

ArtDev 5y ago

Well, I was going to comment that everyone already knows that low-quality Parmesan (like Kraft) contains "sawdust" (listed as cellulose powder). Apparently, the HN crowd already knew this even though its not common knowledge. Are readers of HN unusually curious people? I think so. Regardless, there are much much worse things in processed foods than sawdust. It doesn't suprise me that Walmart "100% cheese" is actually 7.8% sawdust. I bet Walmart brand honey is also very impure, regardless what the label says.

gundmc 5y ago

Please add a (2016) tag.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ecommerceguy 5y ago

Freshly grated parm is sooo much better anyways.

boxed 5y ago

So you can make parmesan cheese from totally vegan sources? That's amazing news! Just needs better branding!

underseacables 5y ago

I remember this craze. For a while it spawned non cellulose varieties but honest to hell it’s just not a problem.