It's entirely intentional and desired. "Wood pulp" is a sensationalistic term for "cellulose", which is clearly listed in the ingredients.
Cellulose is used to coat the cheese to prevent it from clumping and sticking to itself.
Whenever you buy crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola it has tons of cellulose added, or else it would basically just turn into a paste instead of staying crumbled.
> Instead, there was a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA.
My original comment preserved for history:
> It's worse than that: that company advertised it as 100% cheese and it was actually 0% cheese. Not just that it had additives, it wasn't cheese at all.
> According to the FDA’s report on Castle, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, “no parmesan cheese was used to manufacture” the Market Pantry brand 100% grated Parmesan Cheese, sold at Target Corp. stores, and Always Save Grated Parmesan Cheese and Best Choice 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, sold by Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., which along with its subsidiaries supplies 3,400 retail stores in 30 states. Instead, there was a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA.
That's genuine mislabeling. But it shouldn't be confused with the normal practice of adding cellulose for anti-clumping -- which is what the headline is implying is the scandal.
If you asked the average person how much wood they thought was in their cheese they'd look at you as if you were crazy.
It's absolutely news because most people have not even the faintest clue that the cheese they buy contains anything but cheese, much less wood products.
I also see nothing wrong with calling cellulose "wood pulp". That's what it is, isn't it?
wood pulp would be relatively unrefined/contaminated compared to cellulose, which you’d expect to be relatively pure and harmless, so that’s what makes it misinformative. intentional ambiguation like this is a too-common media sensationalism tactic.
Of course it isn't. That's like calling glucose "apple".
Cellulose is a compound that is found in wood pulp, but wood pulp contains many more compounds.
The cellulose used for food can be extracted from wood pulp. It can also be extracted from cotton.
But it isn't wood pulp, and it's irresponsible and sensationalistic for a journalist to call it that.