Kraft Is Launching Two New Spins on its Classic American Singles
It can be hard to put a new spin on long-standing grocery store staple, but Kraft Singles is looking to do just that.
The brand is launching two new products nationwide this week that will make the classic Kraft Singles available in "Ultra Thin" and "Ultra Thick" varieties, a representative confirmed to Eat This, Not That! over email. This will be the first American cheese slice to come out with different slice thickness options, and marks the first "innovation" from the brand in the last decade, according to the company.
The Ultra Thin slices still have the traditional Kraft Singles taste, but as the name implies, they are thinner. For that reason, the thin slices have 30% fewer calories than typical Kraft Singles and come in packs of 30 rather than 24. Meanwhile, the Ultra Thin slices are 50% thicker than the usual Kraft Singles.
This is good news for anyone in pursuit of the optimum cheese (or cheese-adjacent) slice, or those who always thought traditional Kraft Singles were just a little too thick or a little too thin.
Even before it came in these new slice thickness varieties, Kraft Singles have always been an interesting product because of what they are, or perhaps more accurately, what they aren't. Kraft describes its individually packaged American slices as "pasteurized prepared cheese product." It doesn't directly claim to be cheese, but cheddar cheese is the first on the lengthy list of ingredients for Kraft American singles. Among the other ingredients on that list are skim milk, milkfat, milk protein concentrate and whey.
Kraft Singles were featured in our own list of cheese brands that use the lowest quality ingredients, alongside Kraft parmesan cheese, Cheez Whiz, Velveeta Shreds and Great Value American Singles. Still, this hasn't depleted the fan base for American cheese overall. Americans in particular consume a lot of American cheese, devouring 5.32 billion pounds of the product in 2021 alone, according to Statista.
And what Kraft Singles may lack in terms of ingredient quality is rivaled by factors like its long shelf life, consistency, and the convenience of having single portions at the ready. The product even took top honors in an Eat This, Not That! taste-test of the best American cheeses, scoring points for its taste, melt factor, and the nostalgia it invoked.
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