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There are many people that love American cheese because it makes their food taste better. However, there are just as many people that can't stand those yellow slices because they think it isn't real cheese, it's bad for you, or it just doesn't taste very good.

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Food companies realized that rather than adding melting salts to make stubborn cheese flow more smoothly, they could bypass the cheese part and build the perfect cheese-like substance more efficiently from scratch. Processed cheese product or processed cheese foo was born. So it's true that processed cheese food/product does not contain any actual cheese, only dairy and “cheese ingredients.” Basically, processed cheese food was invented to mimic the real thing without bothering to first be that real thing.

That said, if you’re concerned about your melty cheese containing actual, real cheese, simply read the ingredients. If it lists any kind of cheese, then you’re good to go. If it’s a long list of milk, protein, and emulsifiers, then you’re looking at a cheese-free processed cheese product. But just so you know, American cheese is legally required to be made from real cheese.

Processed cheese is cheese with some stuff added, processed cheese food/product is dairy and protein with stuff added. Either way, they’re not any less healthy than regular cheese. Yes, there are words on the ingredient list you don’t understand, but that doesn’t necessarily make them bad, it just makes you not a chemist. Plus, all “all-natural” foods are composed of a series of organic compounds you can't pronounce, anyway.

And let’s not forget that “real” cheese is made by the highly scientific process of manipulating milk proteins with acidifying chemicals found, amongst other places, in the stomachs of cows. Have you seen actual cheese being made? It’s sterile and precise. It’s essentially a laboratory. “Real” cheese is just as much a science project as processed cheese, but no one automatically assumes it's unhealthy in the same way.

The only thing unhealthy about processed cheese is the amount of it you choose to consume. But that’s true for anything. Hell, you can kill yourself by drinking too much water. A few gooey slices of cheese product here and there aren’t going to derail your diet.

Did You Know This About American Cheese?

These reasons why you shouldn't hate American cheese just might have your reaching for a slice the next time you have a burger.

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Article Source: Thrillist