Kraft Shredded Cheese?

[abby03]

I was wondering if anyone could let me know for sure if this shredded cheese I have is gluten free?

It's Kraft Natural shredded sharp cheddar cheese. The ingredients are:

"Cheddar cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, annatto (color); potato starch, cellulose powder, and calcium sulfate added to prevent caking; natamycin (a natural mold inhibitor)"

I've read that Kraft is good about labeling or something (can someone explain?) but I'm still pretty new to this and paranoid about things that don't specifically say gluten free on them. And the other week I thought I read something on here about kraft not confirming that products are gluten free when people call or something. I'm not sure, maybe I'm remembering wrong. I think the cheese looks okay but I just wanted to be sure. if you guys could help that would be great. Thanks so much!

[jerseyangel]

This cheese is fine. I use Kraft shredded cheeses quite often:)

Kraft is a company that will disclose any gluten on the ingredient list.

[bartfull]

Kraft cheese is good stuff. If you can find the WHITE cheddar, it is even better. Here in the midwest they put that nasty orange dye (annatto)in ALL cheeses and all it does is water down the taste and mealy up the texture. Safeway has white cheddar, and so does Walmart - they have Cabot extra-sharp white cheddar, and if you've never had it, TRY it! It's so good it's worth bying the big brick and shredding your own.

[jerseyangel]

Yeah-- Cabot is really good:)

[abby03]

Thanks so much, guys!

Oh and believe me- my mom and I LOVE Cabot. We have some of the Seriously Sharp white cheddar right now and it's sooooo good. I bought the Kraft pre shredded because it's better for salads. Not really taste wise but in texture. The Cabot is very moist and it tends to stay in one big clump when you put it in a salad while the Kraft doesn't really stick together at all. Plus when I shred up some of the Cabot to put into a salad it tends to disappear before it makes it into my bowl...strange haha. Anyway, thanks again for the help!

[bartfull]

They dust the shreds with corn starch to keep it from clumping together. If you can tolerate corn you could do the same with the Cabot.

[Darn210]

I've read that Kraft is good about labeling or something (can someone explain?)

What this means is that for the generic terms of "natural flavoring" or "seasonings", Kraft will put something like "natural flavoring (derived from barley)" so that you know when you read the label if something is hidden in the generic term.

Other good companies that do this are Unilever and ConAgra.

[Lisa]

They dust the shreds with corn starch to keep it from clumping together. If you can tolerate corn you could do the same with the Cabot.

Not too sure they dust with corn starch. Most use cellulose.

[bartfull]

And the cellulose is often derived from corn. (It's better than wood chips!) The corn allergy forums said to avoid these so I assumed it was corn starch, but either way it has a high potential to have corn. And they DO reccommend using corn starch at home.

[psawyer]

And the cellulose is often derived from corn. (It's better than wood chips!) The corn allergy forums said to avoid these so I assumed it was corn starch, but either way it has a high potential to have corn. And they DO reccommend using corn starch at home.

I have never heard of Open Original Shared Link being derived from corn (or any other grain). Please provide a verifiable source for this allegation.

[Lisa]

And they DO reccommend using corn starch at home.

HUH? I'm pretty knowledgeable about gluten, but I have no need to research corn...thank goodness. I can assume it would be very difficult.

[bartfull]

It is extremely difficult! If the only thing that bothered me were gluten I would be able to eat most gluten-free breads and other goodies. As it is, I have to eat only whole foods. (Well, except for the Hagen Daz vanilla. ) But then again, I wouldn't be back to BELOW my high school weight, so I guess I'll take the good with the bad.

Here's a link about using corn starch at home:

Open Original Shared Link

[psawyer]

Here's a link about using corn starch at home:

Open Original Shared Link

Okay, but using corn starch at home has nothing to do with cellulose used in manufacturing.

From that very link: "If you look at bags of pre-shredded cheese in the supermarket, you will see they have an anti-clumping agent, usually cellulose." [emphasis mine]

[bartfull]

But my point is, cellulose CAN be from corn. It isn't always, but if you have a corn intolerance or allergy it's wise to avoid cellulose. They don't have to name the source on the label and the only way to know for sure is to contact the manufacturer. And half the time they can't tell you because they get their cellulose from many different sources depending on price and availability.

Here is a list of POSSIBLE corn containing ingredients I got from one of my corn allergy sites:

Open Original Shared Link

[CommonTater]

We just called Kraft because I've been sick for the past 3 days after eating Kraft cheese. My husband spoke to them and they told him it is NOT gluten free. They said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

[Lisa]

We just called Kraft because I've been sick for the past 3 days after eating Kraft cheese. My husband spoke to them and they told him it is NOT gluten free. They said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

..and that would be a clear violation of the law.  If wheat is used in a product, by law, it must be listed on the ingredient listing or allergin statement.  Kraft had a great policy and lists all forms of gluten.  Perhaps, you contacted an uninformed customer relations representative.

 

Open Original Shared Link

[CommonTater]

The lady seemed to be very informed. Here is the phone number. 1-800-847-1997

 

She said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

[Gemini]

Unless the rep has Celiac Disease, she is not informed.  I am extremely sensitive and use Kraft cheeses and have never reacted.  Ditto for many other Celiacs.  You cannot hide gluten in flavorings or anything else without disclosing  that and Kraft is a very gluten-free friendly company.  What she gave you was a CYA statement to cover their butts from a litigation point of view.  Everyone says this and it means nothing for the Celiac.....it just protects the company in case someone decides to sue them.

 

In any case, "color", "flavorings" and "spices", not spice blends, are safe for Celiacs 99.9% of the time.  That's another clue she wasn't informed or she would have known this.  These are celiac myths that just won't die.  Cheese can make anyone sick for many other reasons but there is no gluten in Kraft cheese.....shredded or otherwise.

[psawyer]

We just called Kraft because I've been sick for the past 3 days after eating Kraft cheese. My husband spoke to them and they told him it is NOT gluten free. They said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

In other words, they won't make a "gluten-free" claim for legal reasons. Frequently "not gluten-free" only means not tested to verify gluten-free status--not that gluten is actually present.

[Seeking2012]

We just called Kraft because I've been sick for the past 3 days after eating Kraft cheese. My husband spoke to them and they told him it is NOT gluten free. They said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

What specific product was it?

[psawyer]

This is an old topic, and CommonTater has not been here in over a year.

[mynxr]

Thanks so much, guys!

Oh and believe me- my mom and I LOVE Cabot. We have some of the Seriously Sharp white cheddar right now and it's sooooo good. I bought the Kraft pre shredded because it's better for salads. Not really taste wise but in texture. The Cabot is very moist and it tends to stay in one big clump when you put it in a salad while the Kraft doesn't really stick together at all. Plus when I shred up some of the Cabot to put into a salad it tends to disappear before it makes it into my bowl...strange haha. Anyway, thanks again for the help!

The reason the Kraft cheese shreds don't stick together is because of the potato starch.  The shreds are covered with the potato starch so they don't stick together.  You can use that same thing to keep raisins suspended in breads, etc.  Just coat them with potato or corn starch before putting them in the batter.  Then they grab onto the dough instead of being so heavy that they drop to the bottom.  I don't know if you can make this work with cheese that you shred yourself or not.  I'll have to do some experimenting.  I usually just dice the cheese up very fine and that works pretty well.

[bartfull]

Oops. Wrong thread.