Four years of steady decline in sales is marking the downfall of American processed cheese. It seems that younger generations are not interested in the type of cheese that comes in plastic wrap that their parents’ generation grew up on. While it has become almost farcical how often the millennial age group is blamed for the death of an industry, it appears that they are simply put off by the amount of chemicals and preservatives found in processed cheese.
It appears that millennials, who make up the age bracket of people born between the early 1980s until the mid to late 90s, are more interested in cheese that is natural, more traditionally made, and generally more artisanal. While the term American cheese has come to apply to those little yellow or white squares of individually plastic wrapped slices, there are plenty of cheeses made in the US that aren’t processed. “American cheese” as we know it was developed at the turn of the century, as a blend of cheeses like cheddar made to be mass produced and consumed. Nowadays, European style cheeses are cheap enough for consumers to believe that they are worth the purchase, and American cheese makers have created their own styles of cheese that are delicious as well, without the preservatives.
While market fluctuations and long term declines can often be boiled down to the simplicity of “millenials are killing blank,” it really is a matter of public perception on certain items. Processed cheese is made with little attention to flavor, and more attention to shelf life, high volume, and marketing. More often than ever, consumers are discerning when it comes to what they are actually consuming, and foods high in chemicals that may be harmful. And many consider spending a little extra for much more flavor in their products.
