Diet

8 Unsettling Facts Food Companies Don't Want You to Know

Find out where wood fibers, bugs and other strange ingredients are lurking in commonly consumed foods.

by Diana Kelly | COMMENT

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There's Wood in Your Parmesan Cheese Though you're not going to be swallowing splinters as part of your Italian meal, grated Parmesan cheese often contains the ingredient cellulose, a common anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp, which the FDA officially classifies it as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS).

"Cellulose is a safe additive, and an acceptable level is 2 percent to 4 percent," Dean Sommer, a cheese technologist at the Center for Dairy Research in Madison, Wisconsin, told Bloomberg when the story first broke. The cheese companies who got in trouble with the FDA had too much cellulose in their products.

Still, says Lovera, consumers are likely to have legitimate concerns. "You worry about how no one makes human-grade sawdust. It didn't come from a supply chain designed for people to eat, [so] where would I get it?" she says. One might also wonder, "Why does my body need it?" says Lovera.

Bottom line: If you're concerned about cellulose in your cheese, buy a hunk of fresh cheese and grate it yourself.

SEE NEXT PAGE: There's Also Wood in Your High-Fiber Bread and Cereal

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