FOOD

Bipartisanship is rare in Congress, but Republicans and Democrats unite - over cheese

Lainey Seyler
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

These days, it seems like lawmakers on opposite sides of the aisle can't agree on much of anything.

Is it natural? Wisconsinites want to know, and the U.S. Senate has passed a bill that may make it easier to tell.

Behold, the power of cheese.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill introduced by Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson and co-sponsored by Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. 

The bill is called (no joke) the CURD Act, which stands for “Codifying Useful Regulatory Definitions" Act. There were two Republican and two Democratic co-sponsors of the bill. 

Johnson said in an email: “In Wisconsin, we’re serious about cheese. The CURD Act ensures consumers will be able to tell the difference between ‘natural cheese’ and ‘processed cheese.’ "

In case you were confused, cheeses like cheddar, Gouda, Swiss, feta, even those ranch-coated cheese curds, are all "natural cheese." Do you know what's not natural cheese? Velveeta, Kraft Singles, Cheez Whiz. 

Natural cheese is made of milk or milk products (like buttermilk) and involves coagulation. Sounds delicious, right? Coagulation is just the separation of the milk protein from the whey. 

Processed cheeses take "natural cheese" and changes it so that it's meltier (like nacho cheese) or is sprayable (like Easy Cheese).