WHAT’S IN YOUR CHEESE?

TESTS FIND GRATED CHEESE FILLED WITH CELLULOSE – MADE FROM WOOD PULP – THAT EXCEEDS THE FDA GUIDELINE:

INVESTIGATION PROMPTS STOP & SHOP TO CHANGE SUPPLIERS TO GUARANTEE LOWER CELLULOSE LEVELS

Airing Tuesday, May 24^th 

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New York, NY — May 24, 2016 – When you buy grated Parmesan at the local supermarket you expect it to be 100% cheese, but freshly grated Parmesan tends to clump up and stick together, so many manufacturers add cellulose – a harmless additive made from wood pulp – to keep the cheese from caking up and making it easy to sprinkle on food.

While a small amount of cellulose in grated Parmesan cheese is necessary, it can also be used as a cheap filler to make the product more profitable.

So INSIDE EDITION wanted to find out if too much cellulose is being slipped in your cheese without you knowing it. To find out, we bought 34 samples from major supermarkets, and also some chains like Pizza Hut and Dominos.

Then INSIDE EDITION sent the cheese off to IEH Labs in Seattle where the samples were tested for cellulose. As a general rule, the FDA says there should be no more than 2% cellulose in grated Parmesan cheese, but the industry says they can have up to 4% cellulose.

The results were shocking – 69% of the cheese INSIDE EDITION tested had more cellulose than the FDA recommended. The Parmesan from Dominos and Pizza Hut had 5.4% and 4.9% of cellulose respectively, more than double the FDA guideline.

The label on Stop & Shop’s supermarket’s brand said “100% grated Parmesan cheese with no fillers,” but tests showed it contained 5.8% cellulose.

The worst offender by far was Colonna Brothers brand grated cheese, which is sold across the country. One package had a whopping 21.6% cellulose.

Food experts say that customers have no way to know how much filler they are eating because the list of ingredients is not broken down by percentage.

In a statement to INSIDE EDITION, Dominos said that the grated cheese they use falls within the FDA guidelines for cellulose.

The Stop & Shop supermarket chain expressed concern about INSIDE EDITION’s findings, and have now switched to a new supplier for their grated cheese, saying “as of next week this new product will be in our stores.” 

Pizza Hut and Colonna Brothers have not responded to INSIDE EDITION’s request for comment.

For INSIDE EDITION’s full report, tune in on Tuesday, May 24. Check local listings for stations and times at www.insideedition.com.

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