What is in so-called fast food cheese? (Taco bell, arby's chedder)

Cafe Society
1

Noting that the cheese ‘dispenser’ at Taco Bell, and at Arby’s, is not exactly haute cuisine, i would ask what kind of ‘cheese’ is it really?

I’m referring to those large steel appliances that the fast food workers just push down to shoot out liquid and extremely yellow cheese

And I know the yellow in chedder is from dyeing it . . .

2

Yummy!

I worked at Arby’s many years ago so I don’t know if this is the same stuff but I figure it’s probably pretty close.

3

Wow, that’s not nearly as bad as I always thought, actually. Let’s break that down:

Cheese whey - watery milk post cheesemaking; the liquid part of cottage cheese, for example.
partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or cottonseed oil - oil (okay, partially hydrogenated isn’t good.)

  • food starch-modified (corn)* - corn starch
    *cheese [cheddar cheese and blue cheese (cultured milk, salt and enzymes)] *- cheese
    salt - salt
    sodium phosphate - a hygroscopic chemical that keeps food from drying out by pulling moisture from the air, also a nutritional supplement and preservative. I’d use a small amount of honey or vegetable glycerin at home for similar effects.
    natural flavors - “flavors” ah…such a useful term. Could be just about anything.
    monosodium glutamate - Ac’cent, Magi, etc.
    mono & diglycerides - fat
    vinegar - vinegar
  • sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate* - an emulsifier. If I was replicating the product at home, I’d use eggs, but I don’t know what this stuff is made from.
  • color added (including Yellow 5 and Yellow 6)* - food coloring
  • lactic and citric acids* - essentially buttermilk and lemon juice, although probably not those exact sources.

So it’s not “cheese” in that it has too much other stuff. If a chef were to whip it up in a kitchen, it’d be a perfectly respectable “cheese sauce”, if overly yellow and salty for most people’s expectations.

4

Cheeze - the other “cheese.”

5

“Anything that is required by law to append the word food to its name probably isn’t.”

Wish I could remember where I heard that. And what the correct wording is.

6

Or a shampoo? :slight_smile:

7

I worked at Arby’s very long ago, and I seem to remember that back then they actually used slices of cheese (or cheese food) on the Beef ‘N’ Cheddar. (Of course, it was the '70s, so I can’t vouch for the veracity of my memories.) When they started using that liquid slop, I stopped eating there. Its relation to cheese and other dairy products is tenuous at best.

8

Well, it’s in shampoo. Alone, it wouldn’t be terribly shampooey. :wink:

Sorry to get all geeky. One of my hobbies is to examine “non-food” food items that people like to freak out about and see just how bad or not bad they really are. This one really isn’t that bad, if you know your way around a kitchen and decode the chemical jargon. The hydrogenated oils are really the worst parts.