Are you craving some real cheese?
If you think you are eating all-natural, authentic ingredients the second you bite into a burger from your favorite fast food restaurant, think again. As some fast-food chains use authentic cheese, most of them would rather stick to preserved cheese that’s filled with preservatives, fillers, and all kinds of artificial flavors and colors that make it seem like the “real deal.”
Why? Well, it’s quite simple: processed cheese has a permanent color and flavor and almost a permanent shelf life. On top of that, it’s also way cheaper, which helps these chains skyrocket their profits. Those additives also make the whole stringy gooeyness you adore in our pizza and cheeseburgers.
Real cheese comprises four main ingredients. There’s milk, starter culture, salt, and enzymes. Buckle up! American cheese is not, technically, real cheese, at least not according to the FDA, which sees it more as a “pasteurized processed American cheese food.” In order to be real cheese, dairy products have to have a minimum of 51% of natural cheese. Guess what? Fast food cheese doesn’t.
Sonic drive-in
Sonic often uses the word “cheese” on its menu for a bunch of different items such as burgers, chili dogs, tots, and fries. However, most of it is only cheese-adjacent, if I may. The wide majority of their products contain only processed cheese, not the real deal.
McDonald’s
Everybody knows by now that McDonald’s uses slices of cheese on its burgers, but they never surpass that hard-to-reach (for fast food chains, at least) 50% real cheese. Therefore, we can’t really say it’s real cheese. Most cheese products have plenty of additives such as acetic acid, enzymes, and sodium pyrophosphate, which can definitely make the cheese product last way longer or have a particular color.
Burger King
Well, see? Burger King is an exception. A weird one, though. Even if Burger King does use real cheese on a couple of their products, the wide majority of its burgers are topped with American cheese, which the FDA believes is not real cheese. So, we can say that Burger King is in between blurred lines, cheese-wise. Or, in other words, you have options there!
Bojangles
This chain can be found in only a few states in the south and east, and it’s well-known for its chicken and biscuits. What Bojangle’s isn’t known for is its authentic cheese, that’s for sure. It is true that they have mac and cheese on their menu, but it’s fully made of processed liquid cheese that comes with all kinds of interesting additives. Interesting to think about them, not necessarily to eat them.
Tim Hortons
This well-known Canadian coffee shop chain is a bit sketchy when it comes to what they use for cheese. As a matter of fact, its signature breakfast sandwiches automatically have processed cheese, but you also have the option to pay the extra money and get the real thing. How sketchy is that, really?
Jack in the Box
When it comes to Jack in the Box, the good news is that they do have some burgers that come with real cheese. But they also have the processed stuff. Its Brewhouse Cheese Sauce has a series of natural cheddar cheese flavors, which aren’t the same thing as actual cheddar cheese.
Moreover, its Monterey Jack Cheese with flavor does have the well-known Monterey Jack cheese, but also a couple of other additives like whey, buttermilk solids, as well as lactic acid.
Arby’s
Well, here’s yet another fast-food chain that technically uses real cheese in some of its items. However, it is still missing the mark with its iconic Classic Beef ‘n’ Cheddar sandwich. The cheddar sauce has some real cheddar in it, but you will still fall asleep and wake up until you find it below in the list of ingredients.
Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen is the proverbial mixed bag when it comes to cheese. On one side, it uses real cheese for its cheese curds. However, when it comes to other products, like its Cheeseburger and Backyard Bacon Ranch Signature Stackburger, they exclusively use processed cheese.
Pizza Hut
Even if Pizza Hut says it uses real cheese, we would argue that it depends on their definition of “real.” Because as far as we can tell, it uses something known as part-skim mozzarella cheese. Well, if you ever tried real mozzarella cheese, you should know it doesn’t come in its shredded form.
This cheese product is completely made of pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, modified food starch, and whey protein concentrate. These things are what make the pizza gooey, and it’s also way cheaper to use them instead of real healthier alternatives.
Taco Bell
If you’re a big fan of Nachos Bell Grande, you already know that their cheese sauce is faux. It’s basically a bad mix of dairy, water, and artificial flavors and colors. If you didn’t know, we are sorry to burst your bubble.
Chili’s
It’s definitely a step up from fast food, but Chili’s is quite guilty of using processed cheese, too. Any dish that has its queso or cheese sauce definitely uses processed cheese.
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