Do Americans Eat More Processed Cheese Than Real Cheese?

One of the most prevalent beliefs about the American diet among people from other countries is that Americans eat more processed ‘American’ cheese than real, natural cheese. Processed cheese, which is called plastic cheese in some cultures, is seen as a symbol of the horrible American diet, part of a culture that survives on fast food and salty snacks. How much processed cheese do Americans actually eat? Do we eat more of it than natural cheese?

The problem with countering any view about something seen as fake versus something seen as natural is defining natural. Those who want to criticize the American diet will tend to assume that not only is processed cheese fake, but all American made cheese is ‘not natural’ in some way. There are, as of 2023, around 436 natural cheese making companies in the United States. But, we must define our terms. What is processed cheese and what is natural cheese?

What is Processed Cheese?

Processed cheese is cheese that contains added emulsifiers and additional ingredients such as vegetable oils, dairy ingredients, food coloring, etc.

Processed cheese is also called process cheese, cheese food, prepared cheese, or cheese product. Such products usually contain around 50 to 60% cheese and 40 to 50% other ingredients. The most well-known processed cheese products in the United States are Kraft Singles American Cheese slices, and Velveeta.

What is Natural Cheese?

We will define natural cheese as any cheese made in the traditional way with no further processing and to which no further ingredients have been added.

Natural cheese is made by adding a starter culture and rennet to coagulate milk and separate the curd from the whey (the liquid part). The solid curds are then formed into cheese which is then aged in various ways (or not aged, as the case may be).

Some examples of natural cheese are Brie, Camembert, Muenster, Cheddar, Monterey jack, Havarti, Gruyère, Roquefort, Stilton, Parmesan, and Asiago.

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How Much Cheese Does the United States Produce?

Contrary to popular belief, the United States is one of the largest cheese-producing nations in the world. In 1995, over 6.9 billion pounds of natural cheese was produced in the United States. Over 30% of this cheese was made in Wisconsin, the leading cheese-producing area of the country. In the same year, 2.3 billion pounds of processed cheese was produced.

In 2023, over 14 billion pounds of cheese was produced in the United States.

Find more statistics at Statista

How Much Cheese Does the United States Import and Export?

The United States is also a big cheese exporter. In 2023, 435,569 metric tons of cheese were exported from the United States. The top markets for this cheese are Mexico and China.

The United States also imports tons of cheese from other countries like Italy, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain. In 2022, the United States imported $1.57 billion in cheese, making us the 8th largest cheese importer in the world. Here are the United States’ top cheese-importing countries from that year:

Italy: $443 million
France: $190 million
Netherlands: $122 million
Switzerland: $117 million
Spain: $93.7 million 1

But how much cheese do Americans eat? And, how does our consumption of natural cheese compare with that of the rest of the world? Do we eat more processed cheese than real cheese?

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How Much Cheese Do Americans Eat?

America is not even in the top ten of cheese-eating countries. The French eat the most cheese. On average, a person in France eats about 58 pounds of cheese per year. Germany is second, at 53.2 pounds per year, and Luxembourg is third. The United States is 13th, at 36.6 pounds a year. 2

Do Americans Eat More Processed Cheese?

In 2022, Americans bought 11.7 billion dollars worth of NATURAL cheese. On the other hand, they bought 2.25 billion dollars worth of processed cheese. So, you see that we eat much higher amounts of regular cheese than processed cheese.

In that same year, the UK imported around $234 million worth of processed cheese, France $175 million, and Italy $148 million. While Americans do eat much more processed cheese than these other countries, keep in mind that our population is much higher.

In summary, Americans do not eat mostly processed cheese and ignore natural cheese. In fact, the opposite is true. We eat much more natural cheese than processed ‘American’ cheese. While it is true that Americans eat more processed cheese than other parts of the world, the numbers clearly show that Americans do not prefer processed over real cheese.