You’ve probably seen viral reels or posts claiming that grated cheese contains wood pulp, and maybe you’ve shrugged it off as an exaggeration. After all, the thought of eating something so industrial as wood pulp seems a bit far-fetched, right? After a deep dive into how cellulose is made and used, I can report that it is not generally used as an anti-caking agent for cheese in the UK. That honour goes to the humble spud, which gets it's own ticket to a chemical shit show, to turn it into potato starch. However, cellulose IS processed and present in food in the UK, and there is quite a lot of truth to the sawdust story.
So, let’s take a look at what cellulose is, how it’s made, and whether it’s really derived from wood pulp. And, importantly, should you be concerned about its presence in your food, if it is processed correctly and hygienically?
What Is Cellulose?
Cellulose is a naturally occurring substance found in the cell walls of plants. It’s a tough, fibrous compound that gives plants their structure and strength and it is indigestible to the human body. But while it’s common in nature, cellulose is also widely used in various industries, especially food. Some of its other names, that you might recognise on ingredient lists include:
Methylcellulose
Cellulose gum
Carboxymethylcellulose
Microcrystalline cellulose
Powdered cellulose
Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose
Ethyl cellulose
Is Cellulose Really Made from Wood Pulp?
Short answer, Yes. Cellulose used in food products is usually made from wood pulp. it can also come from other plants, however wood pulp is the most common source, due to its abundance, cheapness and availability. This raises an interesting question: if cellulose is derived from wood pulp, does that mean it’s natural?
Well, wood is natural, right? However, the process of turning wood into cellulose involves a series of treatments and chemicals, which makes the final product quite different from the natural material it started as, which is part of the reason that food technologists argue that calling it wood pulp is misleading.
The Process of Making Cellulose: From Wood Pulp to Food Additive
Let’s break down the stages involved in turning wood pulp into the cellulose that ends up in food products, and see why this process might make some people pause before consuming.
1. Initial Processing: Separating the Cellulose
The first step is to separate cellulose from other compounds found in the wood. The most common method used for this is the Kraft pulping process, which involves treating the wood with sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. This helps separate the cellulose fibres from the lignin and hemicellulose, which are other components in wood.
2. Bleaching: Purifying the Cellulose
Once the cellulose is separated, it goes through a bleaching process to purify and whiten it. The most common bleaching method is ECF (Elemental Chlorine-Free), which uses chlorine dioxide and sodium hydroxide. This step is crucial for ensuring that the cellulose is clean and free from impurities, but it also involves the use of harsh chemicals.
3. Chemical Modifications: Achieving Specific Properties
After bleaching, the cellulose undergoes chemical modifications to give it specific properties, such as thickening or gel-forming abilities. Even more highly corrosive chemicals are used, like sodium hydroxide, methyl chloride, propylene oxide, monochloroacetic acid, hydrochloric acid, and ethylene oxide. These chemicals change the structure of the cellulose to achieve the desired texture or functionality, such as making it soluble in water, or creating a gel-like consistency.
4. Removal of Residuals: Washing and Neutralizing
Once the cellulose has been chemically modified, there are residual chemicals that need to be removed. This is done through a series of washing and neutralizing steps. Chemicals like hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), and hydrogen peroxide are used to neutralize, and water is used to wash away chemicals.
5. Final Stage: Drying
Finally, the cellulose undergoes oven drying, after which the cellulose is in its final form, ready to be used in food products. At this stage, most of the chemicals used in the earlier steps are removed, though there are legal limits to the amount of residual chemicals that can remain in food-grade cellulose.
The Dose Makes The Poison
Now, let’s talk about why this product is often used in highly processed food. Cellulose is used in food as a thickener, stabilizer, and anti-caking agent, preventing clumping, or sticking together, thereby improving texture.
In the UK, whilst I could not find cellulose on the ingredients list for grated cheese, there were plenty of other products (all processed foods) that did contain it.
While some might argue that the final washing and drying stages remove the harmful chemicals used in the process, they don't remove all the chemicals. We can look at the residual limits imposed by food safety authorities, to assess the safety of these products. Just as there was public concern over glyphosate residue levels in cereal products a few years ago, it’s important to know what the allowable limits are for residual chemicals are in food-grade cellulose.
Typical acceptable residual limits are less than 10 parts per million (ppm) for food grade cellulose, which sounds very little, and not worth worrying about. However, when you consider that there were 10 chemicals used in the processing of wood to cellulose, that means that the total chemical load could be 100 ppm. Now consider that the food product ingredient list would rarely have Methylcellulose in isolation. Cellulose would be listed with it's very own toxic party of family and friends: other food grade additives that have also been produced with harsh chemicals, and carry their own acceptable residual limit load and then laced with highly refined seed oils that should come with a warning label on the bottle. Not only that, but ultra processed foods are consumed in many cases, multiple times a day, 365 days of the year.
I briefly considered methodically working my way through the ingredients listed on a packet of vegan sausages, in the vain attempt to estimate a total toxic load, but then decided that I needed to get a life.
In conclusion, although cellulose is not generally present in grated cheese in the UK, it is present in other processed foods, and your delicate gut and precious body won't thank you for any amount of residual corrosive chemicals, however small. If you already have health issues, then it's even more important to stick to real whole foods. If after reading this blog, you need further proof, then no amount of evidence will change your mind.
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