Government cheese is processed cheese provided to welfare beneficiaries, Food Stamp recipients, and the elderly receiving Social Security in the United States, as well as to food banks and churches. This processed cheese was used in military kitchens during World War II and has been used in schools since the 1950s.
Government cheese is a commodity cheese that was controlled by the US federal government from World War II to the early 1980s. It was a byproduct of maintaining an artificially high (and stabilized) price of milk through dairy industry subsidies, which produced a surplus that was in turn converted into cheese, butter, and powdered milk. The excess after designated uses was stored in over 150 warehouses across 35 states, creating a strategic federal food reserve available for unexpected surges in demand (such as disaster relief) and crisis (such as potential nuclear conflict during the Cold War).
History and impact
The cheese was bought and stored by the government's Commodity Credit Corporation. Direct distribution of dairy products began in 1982 under the Temporary Emergency...
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