Cheese strings are stick-shaped packs of cheese, which peel down nicely (and kids do love the gimmick, food they can play with and it has a salty taste). Like many other things, they aren't so bad if eaten in moderation.
The ingredients of cheese strings are processed cheese, colouring when orange (usually annatto, which is the most common colouring added to all orange cheeses), and salt (up to 0.75 g per package). Processed cheese is a mix of different cheeses and other dairy products (such as whey), melted and mixed with emulsifiers (salts that change the texture and get them all to mix together) and reformed into another shape. Emulsifiers are very common food additives that help keep oils from separating out of a mixture; the best known emulsifier is probably egg yolk; the most common emulsion mixture eaten is probably mayonnaise.
The only really (potentially) scary thing about cheese strings is their salt content; some sources reckon that children aged 4-6 years shouldn't have more than 3 g of salt per day; obviously, one cheese string coming in at 0.75 g of salt is a lot of salt for the small amount of calories it gives. For this reason probably best to limit them to only one per day, and even then not every day.
Alternatives to cheese strings: you can try cut-up cubes of plain cheese, perhaps mixed with raisins, as a tv-time snack or lunchbox filler. You may also be able to find firm mozzarella cheese that can be cut down to cheese string size portions, but won't have the added salt or stigma of being 'processed cheese'.
The ingredients of cheese strings are processed cheese, colouring when orange (usually annatto, which is the most common colouring added to all orange cheeses), and salt (up to 0.75 g per package). Processed cheese is a mix of different cheeses and other dairy products (such as whey), melted and mixed with emulsifiers (salts that change the texture and get them all to mix together) and reformed into another shape. Emulsifiers are very common food additives that help keep oils from separating out of a mixture; the best known emulsifier is probably egg yolk; the most common emulsion mixture eaten is probably mayonnaise.
The only really (potentially) scary thing about cheese strings is their salt content; some sources reckon that children aged 4-6 years shouldn't have more than 3 g of salt per day; obviously, one cheese string coming in at 0.75 g of salt is a lot of salt for the small amount of calories it gives. For this reason probably best to limit them to only one per day, and even then not every day.
Alternatives to cheese strings: you can try cut-up cubes of plain cheese, perhaps mixed with raisins, as a tv-time snack or lunchbox filler. You may also be able to find firm mozzarella cheese that can be cut down to cheese string size portions, but won't have the added salt or stigma of being 'processed cheese'.
