Cheese food???

[madd1]

Recently, while grocery shopping, I noticed that Kraft American cheese singles are now labeled “Pasteurized Process Cheese Food”. The other products are labeled “Cheese.” Only the Kraft products are labeled “Cheese Food”. I thought that artificial spray cheese was “cheese food”
not my sandwich cheese.
Have they always been labeled this way?
Is it still cheese?

[labdude]

they are required to call all blended cheeses “cheese food.”
so if its not a specific type its a cheese food.

[Chronos]

From Let’s Start to Cook, by the editors of the Farm Journal:

Pasteurized process cheese:
Process cheese is natural cheese that has been shredded and melted. The heating (pasteurizing) stops the curing so that the cheese does not change in flavor or texture. It may be a mixture of more than one natural cheese, such as a fresh Cheddar and an aged Cheddar, or different kinds of cheese, such as Cheddar and Swiss. Sometimes pimentos, fruits, vegetables and meat are added, and the cheese may also be smoked or seasoned with smoke flavoring.
The taste of process cheese depends largely on the natural cheese from which it is made. It melts easily and without stringing– reasons why it’s a favorite with many cooks.
…
Process cheese food
It is made the same way as process cheese except it contains less cheese and less milk fat. Nonfat dry milk or whey solids and water are added, making cheese foods more moist. Often pimentos, fruits, vegetables and meats are added to them and sometimes they are smoke-flavored. Process cheese foods taste milder than process cheese and they are softer, and spread and melt more easily. You can use cheese foods in any recipe calling for process cheese, but remember that they do not add as much cheese flavor. They are marketed in slices, rolls, links, and loaves.

Summary, in case manny has to edit out the above: Process cheeses are melted and possibly mixed, and cheese foods are cut with nonfat milk or water. Kraft isn’t the only maker of cheese food slices, either: the Albertson’s singles I have in my fridge right now are labelled as cheese food, too.