If you've bought low-fat ice cream, bottled milkshakes or shredded cheese recently, you may have noticed "powdered cellulose" listed as an ingredient. Perfectly normal. Cellulose, tiny particles of plant and wood fiber, is used as a thickening agent in foods, and as an anti-caking additive. And its use is reportedly on the rise as ingredients like flour and oil become more expensive. Wood: it does a body good.
Niels Thestrup, vice president of the hydrocolloids department for Danisco AS, said sales of their products have been rising three to five percent a year over the past decade. And lest you think your precious organic foods are safe from the additive, the USDA says powdered cellulose in its least manipulated form can be used in "organic" foods. Organic Valley says they use it in their shredded cheese. Kraft Foods uses cellulose made from wood pulp and cotton in some salad dressings.
However, Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says "cellulose is cellulose," whether it comes from celery or cotton. And so far there are no studies suggesting it could cause health problems. So basically all it does is gross us out; we can't help thinking Ren & Stimpy:
