On every package of Kraft Singles American cheese slices you'll find the words "Milk Makes 'Em Taste Great!" Ads for Kraft Singles feature kids describing how much milk goes into every slice. But the fine print of their ingredient list tells a different story - the fifth ingredient on that list is something called "Milk Protein Concentrate." This ingredient, called MPC for short, is an unregulated, untested substance that is far from the wholesome milk Kraft brags about.
What is MPC?
Big food processors, like Kraft - the largest U.S. cheese company, owned by tobacco giant Philip-Morris - use MPC in many popular products: cheese, frozen desserts, and high protein sports drinks, energy bars, and nutritional supplements.
But when it comes to explaining what Milk Protein Concentrate is, it's actually easier to explain what it is not.
MPC is not dry or powdered milk. MPC usually comes in powder form. But unlike dry milk, MPC is what is left after processing to remove more valuable components of milk.
Save for one plant in Portales, NM, MPC is not produced in the U.S. Fluid milk that is not drunk by U.S. consumers, is usually made into milk powder for later use in cheese production. But around the world, the dried leftovers of dairy processing are often mixed together and generically called MPC, in order to exploit a loophole in U.S. trade rules that allows it to be imported with lower tariffs.
MPC is not an approved food ingredient. There is not enough research on MPC to qualify it for the list of food ingredients that the federal government classifies as "Generally Regarded as Safe." But even though MPC is not an approved food ingredient, it can be found on most grocery store shelves!
MPC has not been defined by the Food and Drug Administration and the agency has no standard for the purity of MPC. The FDA admits that they do
"minimal monitoring" of MPC as it enters the U.S. This is important because MPC is imported from around the world - including countries where dairy sanitation and food regulations are less stringent or virtually nonexistent.
So Why Is Anyone Allowed to Use MPC?
When it comes to cheese, technically, no one is allowed to use MPC. The FDA has "standards of identity" for most cheeses, including Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food (like Kraft Singles). MPC is not an approved ingredient under FDA's standards of identity. Yet the agency has looked the other way as imports of MPC skyrocketed. In 2000 alone, dairy processors like Kraft imported 52,000 metric tons of MPC - that's the equivalent of 4.6 billion pounds of milk!
Who Benefits from Using MPC?
Big food processing companies save money by buying cheap imported MPC rather than paying a fair price to U.S. dairy farmers. In fact, these companies are so anxious to use cheap imports that last year they petitioned the FDA to change the definition of milk! They want to be able to list the liquid form of MPC as "milk" on product labels. In 2004 alone the dairy giants imported over 34 million metric tons of MPC.
Who Gets Hurt by MPC?
Family Farmers - As imports of MPC rise, farmers face even more depressed domestic milk prices and lose options for selling their product. In dairy states like Minnesota and Wisconsin, three to four family farmers go out of business every day due to such unfair business practices.
Consumers - People who think they're buying a healthy wholesome product need to think again when they buy cheese made with MPC, an un-tested, unregulated dairy waste from other countries.
Taxpayers - As domestic farm prices stagnate and rural communities suffer, the federal government is pressured to help agriculture more. Unfortunately, most of these subsidies are quickly siphoned off by agribusiness corporations like Kraft, who refuse to pay a fair price to farmers while being dishonest with consumers.
Kraft "Singles" come in many varieties, but they all bear the label of "Pasteurized Process Cheese Product." That is because they contain Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC) an ingredient that is not legal for use in making human food. Imported MPC has displaced millions of tons of dry milk from the U.S. cheese market - reducing dairy farmers' income and denying consumers an honest product.
What Can You Do?
1. Don't Buy Kraft Singles!! Tell Kraft you think their "American" cheese ought to be made from U.S. milk - not from imported MPC that is unapproved, unregulated, and untested. Call Kraft: # 1-800-323-0768 or write them: Kraft Foods, 1 Kraft Court, Glenview, IL 60025
2.) Be a smart consumer and carefully read labels. If you discover MPC in a food product, don't buy it, and don't hesitate to let the manufacturer and grocery store manager know about this illegal food ingredient.
2. Tell your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators to get MPC out of our food! Call the Congressional switchboard: #1-202-224-3121
3. Urge the FDA to enforce the existing laws on using MPC in food. Call the FDA: # 1-888-463-6332 or write them: FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857
For more information, contact:
Family Farm Defenders, P.O. Box 1772, Madison, WI 53701 tel./fax. 608-260-0900
America Raw Milk Producers Pricing Association (ARMPA), P.O. Box 134, Waunakee, WI 53597
Milkweed, P.O. Box 10, Brooklyn, WI 53521
