Kraft Singles is a brand of

processed cheese Processed cheese (also known as process cheese, cheese food, prepared cheese, cheese product, or plastic cheese) is a food product made from cheese and unfermented dairy ingredients mixed with emulsifiers. Additional ingredients, such as vegeta ...

product manufactured and sold by

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arran ...

, introduced in 1950. Kraft individually wrapped "slices" are not really slices off a block, but formed separately in manufacturing. In the US, Kraft Singles is manufactured in regular, 2% Milk, and Fat Free. In Australia, a short-lived product called Vegemite Singles combined Kraft Singles and Vegemite. Kraft singles do not qualify for the US FDA Pasteurized Processed Cheese labeling. For this reason, Kraft labels them Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product to avoid FDA sanctions. Kraft Foods called their Kraft Singles as "Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food" until the FDA gave a warning in December 2002 stating that the product could not be legally labeled as "Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food" due to the inclusion of

milk protein concentrate Milk protein concentrate (MPC) is any type of concentrated milk product that contains 40–90% milk protein. The United States officially defines MPC as "any complete milk protein (casein plus lactalbumin) concentrate that is 40 percent or more ...

s. Kraft complied with the FDA order by changing the label to the current Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product. One of the more famous ad campaigns involved the claim that each ¾ ounce slice contained "five ounces of milk", which makes them taste

better than "Better Than" is a song by Australian band John Butler Trio from their fourth studio album, ''Grand National''. Produced by John Butler and Mario Caldato Jr., it was released in the United States on 20 February 2007 as an online single, the third ...

imitation cheese slices made mostly with vegetable oil and water and hardly any milk. The campaign was lambasted for its implications that each slice contained the same amount of

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar ...

as a five-ounce glass of milk and also more calcium than imitation cheese slices, which eventually led to a ruling by the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction o ...

in 1992 that ordered Kraft to stop making false claims in its advertising. In Australia, the Kraft branding was retired in 2017. Kraft's successor company in Australia, Mondelez, sold their cheese products line to

Bega Cheese Bega Cheese is an Australian diversified food and drinks company with manufacturing sites in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. Founded as an agricultural cooperative in the town of Bega, New South Wales by their dair ...

, but retained rights to the Kraft name. Bega switched the name of their sliced cheese product from "Kraft Singles" to "Dairylea Slices", as Bega acquired the rights to the Dairylea brand in Australia in the deal. The "Kraft Singles" name could return in the future, as

Kraft Heinz The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz, is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods and Heinz co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Kraft Heinz is the third-largest food and bevera ...

assumed the trademark from Mondelez at the beginning of 2018. In America, consumers are slowly moving away from Kraft Singles; though around 40 percent of households in America continue to buy Kraft Singles, sales are flat.

References

External links

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FDA Cheese product definitions
{{Processed cheese Processed cheese Kraft Foods brands American cheeses Products introduced in 1950