What is in Velveeta?

By Christine Celsor on Feb 1, 2006

You know how some mornings you get a terrible song in your mind and you hope it won’t set the mood for your day?  This morning I had the song “Just a Gigolo” by David Lee Roth stuck in my mind.  I was thinking of the video and how it represented the 1980s so well.  Then the old Velveeta commercial jingle came into my mind.  You know,

“There's no single cheese like Velveeta, 'cause Velveeta is more than one single cheese. Like Colby, Swiss, and Cheddar, blended all together, for a creamy taste that melts with ease! Velveeta processed cheese spread is so much fun, all those natural cheeses are better than one!”

Velveeta is more than one single cheese, and isn’t it more than cheese?  I began to wonder what the ingredients are in Velveeta.  Here they are:

MILK, WATER, MILKFAT, WHEY, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, ALGINATE, SODIUM CITRATE, APOCAROTENAL (COLOR), ANNATTO (COLOR), ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE.

I think it is the alginate that gives Velveeta its tasty oozy quality.  Alginate is extracted from the cell walls of brown seaweed.  Alginate “reacts” with calcium and forms a gel.  It’s used in foods like bakery jelly, batter mix, ice cream, and salad dressings.  Non-food uses include dentistry molds, prosthetics, and dressings for wounds (not to be confused with the salad dressings).

Sodium Alginate can be found in Burger King’s Big Fish sandwich and onion rings. Propylene Glycol Alginate is in a number of their salad dressings and dipping sauces.  But that’s not what shocked me about Burger King.  Do you know what’s in their buns?  The preservatives are frightening.  Azodicarbonamide, for example, found in all three varieties of their buns, and the secret to their spongy texture, is both a pesticide and a preservative.  It is also used to make shoe soles and carpet pads (nice and spongy).  Azodicarbonamide is banned for use in food in Australia.

Realizing how bad Burger King sounded, I had to check the McDonald’s ingredients lists.  Everyone knows that McDonald’s has unworldly French Fries.  The secret lies in the natural flavor (beef source).  That’s right, beef flavored (who knows what part of the cow – probably the cheapest part only suitable for fast-food fries) potatoes and oil with preservatives cooked in oil.  When did food become so disgusting?  Isn’t eating plastics and pesticides bad for you?  I’m glad we still have fruits and vegetables.