Talk:Government cheese

NPOV tag
Here's the passage I'm most concerned with: The cheese was often from food surpluses stockpiled by the government as part of milk price supports; the stockpiling was meant to create an artificial demand for milk, making it more expensive...ironically, making it necessary to then help poor people afford to buy it.

In my opinion, it's a sound economic argument (assuming the first clause is correct - it needs a citation in any case). But it's not a fact. It's an opinion. And it has no place in Wikipedia. Please consult the Neutral point of view and No original research pages for further details. -Juansmith 18:56, 10 August 2006 (UTC)


 * You're right. Completely non-NPOV. 100% speculation not backed up by references. Removed (someone had to do it...) Jake b 22:13, 23 August 2006 (UTC)


 * The way it was worded is POV however, surpluses are a result of price supports which can be introduced in a neutral manner. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.124.143.3 (talk • contribs) 17:53, 15 September 2008

Can someone add to this page? I would love to see more information on how the program was distributed.

Iansanderson 17:10, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the program was designed to keep a stable market for dairy products, by buying up products when there was an oversupply, and not buying otherwise. This was intended to help keep prices down, by avoiding 'shortages' and corresponding sudden price rises.

Note that you can not suddenly ramp up the production of milk -- it takes several years to breed a cow, produce a calf, select the females and raise them up to milking age. That doesn't happen overnight! If the milk price suddenly drops, a dairy farmer gets out of the business by sending all his cows off to slaughter. It takes quite a financial investment, and a fair amount of time, for that farmer to get back into business. So the thought was that preventing wild swings in the price paid for milk would keep farmers in the business, and keep a steady supply of milk, thus being the most economical in the long run. T-bonham 02:10, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Sure, some people do that, but they shouldn't. The biggest economic problems come when the gubmint does something smart but the bidnisses respond in a reactionary and unintelligent way.

"Associated with Reaganomics"? That's not a POV now is it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.124.143.3 (talk • contribs) 17:53, 15 September 2008

Where was it produced!! that info belongs in this article!!
we have to find out where this cheese was produced people still want this cheese!! It probably was terrible for your health but everyone says it was the best tasting cheese they had ever eaten!

-- I believe the cheese tasted unusually good because it was aged longer than most store-bought cheese, by sitting around in warehouses. Cheese sold for profit has quicker turnover than cheese produced as surplus. This is speculation but it stands to reason.


 * Good question. I think that would be interesting, too.  I do know that Land O' Lakes still makes a type of cheese called Pasteurized Process American Cheese, but I just found that on the internet.  I haven't seen it in the stores yet. Fredsmith2 15:48, 3 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I would image Kraft was at least one of the makers in the beginning, 50s/60s, as they have been the largest in the US and one of the largest in the world for 100 years. The govt overpaid for the cheese, but the standards for the cheese were extremely high. Dad was in the military, so we bought it at the commissary all the time, makes the best macaroni and cheese.  Huge blocks a foot long.  Very high milk fat content, and was priced fairly cheap since they sold it at cost or less to military families.  As a point of comparison, go look at the grocery store shelf:  you notice that Kraft Singles are NOT qualfied for WIC, but their Deli Cheese (at twice the price) is.  This is because there isn't enough cheese in "Singles" to qualify and meet the standard.  Their Deli American is the closest thing to old fashioned 'gubmint cheese', but still pales in comparison.  Pharmboy 21:40, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Should this discuss package volumes?
I remember (from Minnesota in the 1970's and early 1980's) that one of the complaints about this product was the package sizes. The Government cheese came in 10-pound blocks, which is a bit much for a small family to use up. A lot of it went into hot-lunch programs, Veterans' nursing home kitchens, etc., where that size was fine. But could be a problem for a mother & a couple of kids. T-bonham 02:10, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

My 90 year old great grandmother, in 1985, received once-monthly 2 pound blocks of government cheese via US Postal Service ( in a 'care package type box among pther things like flour and powdered milk) around the same time every month that she received her Social Security check. I think the packages you are describing, if they existed (because I have never seen one of ten pounds, nor would I assume that you were mistaken in your assessment), were probably intended only for school lunch programs, VA hospitals, etc. Are your recollections coming from direct personal experience or from "remembering complaints?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.87.13.82 (talk) 18:27, 15 August 2009 (UTC)


 * My neighbors got USDA cheese in Michigan in the 1980s and it was probably 10 pounds. Definitely larger than 2 pounds would be, could have been 8 pounds or something I suppose, but I mean BIG blocks of cheese. They went somewhere and picked it up for their family, not institutional. ЄlєvєN єvєN | | иэvэ иэvэlэ  08:36, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

Shouldn't this article discuss adverse reaction?
I've watched enough In Living Color to know that supposedly this stuff locks up yer bowels. (I could use some of that, then I could safely imbibe prunes)

All cheese will lock up your bowels, especially if you didn't amount to jack squat, live in a van down by the river, and are eating a steady diet of government cheese. 71.185.231.154 04:49, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
 * That's SNL, not In Living Color, bro.19:29, 30 January 2018 (UTC)2601:40C:8300:1D35:5189:8A62:D4A3:3263 (talk)


 * The only info I found about the negative effects of this cheese was on Urban Dictionary, and sadly I can't quote that on here, because it violates too many policies. Fredsmith2 15:44, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Removed a link
Removed a link from the See Also section which led to an "Audio recording of The Rainmakers performing 'Government Cheese' live in concert." Didn't seem all that relevant. Shostie 14:17, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Presliced?
The article says that government cheese was presliced. I was given some cheese back in the '80's that I was told was government cheese, and it was a solid brick, not sliced. I looked for unsliced American cheese later, and couldn't find it for sale.

Scott Haley (talk) 19:45, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


 * What we used to get was presliced. We got it from two sources:  The military commissary and, um, dad's work.  (he ran chow halls in the military until the early 70s).  I am not aware of any that was unsliced, although it is certainly possible.  I am trying to find more info on it, but it isn't easy to find since they cancelled the programs that used it in favor of WIC back in the 80s, well before the advent of the internet.  And yes, it was really good quality, as the govt bought up all surplus that met the grade to keep prices up.  The only place you can get unsliced American cheese now (that I know of) would be the deli.  Most supermarkets sell it block, as much or as little as you want, but it isn't the same.  Maybe better, maybe worse, depending on source. Pharmboy (talk) 01:36, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

I have lived in Fort Lauderdale since 1983. The surplus cheese we used to get was a four pound brick of something that resembled cheddar or colby. Honey was free, too. If you were willing to stand in line for it, no one asked for proof of being poor, although I was. I miss the stuff. Decent cheese costs more now than meat. 65.9.38.170 (talk) 00:46, 23 January 2008 (UTC)David65.9.38.170 (talk) 00:46, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Have to add this agreement; 'government cheese' - the kind you got shipped to you directly every month during the reagan era - was not presliced. If I had to venture a guess I'd say it was probably comparable to the PX/commissary cheese but not the same product. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.87.13.82 (talk) 18:41, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Living on Government Cheese
While the phrase is consistent with the cultural use of the term, even the term itself was uncommon enough that many younger (18-25) people I'd asked didn't know exactly what "government cheese" was, most thought it was just "low grade cheese" and were unaware that it referred to a form of government assistance to individuals... awareness of the two word phrase seems pretty low these days, and for those who are aware of it, I'm not sure that there's even a notable difference between "Living on Government Cheese" and "Living on foodstamps" and "Living on welfare" in terms of how the phrases were ever used culturally.

So I've pulled the citation needed, and instead listed the phrase as an example of how the term can be used in a non-literal cultural sense. 70.190.70.128 (talk) 02:46, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

I changed the "slang" definition of it slightly so that I think it better states the implied connotation. Eating government cheese or living on government cheese is typically used to indicate perpetual reliance on government assistance, not just having needed aid at one point. For example, if financial aid was given to victims of a natural disaster they would not be derided as having lived on government cheese, even if they had in fact been given government cheese to eat. The term is best used to describe the idea of someone living on government handouts to subsidize an unproductive lifestyle, with no plans for personal economic advancement. If you disagree with assessment, I suggest you look up the song "Government Cheese" by the Rainmakers to hear an actual contemporary usage of the term and then decide if my characterization of the phrase is correct or not. Also please add that citation if you know how to do that, as I'm a rather novice wikipedia editor. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.204.135.94 (talk) 06:25, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

No way was it pre-sliced. I remember as a kid getting a “block” of government cheese (don’t remember how often) and most times you needed a serrated knife to cut it! I could have gotten rich selling tiny chain saws just for cutting”gov’ment cheese!) —Preceding unsigned comment added by ChloeMS (talk • contribs) 21:40, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

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Grammar
I cannot tell from the article whether or not Government Cheese still exists. Some of the verb tenses are past tense and some present tense. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.124.143.3 (talk • contribs) 17:53, 15 September 2008

I'd like to add to this; there is a sentence in the first block of text: "Currently, the USDA provides a subsidized food program for specific classes of foods in the United States known as the Women, Infants and Children program, as well as other programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)."

The sentence introduces WIC long before it's even a part of the article; it's completely irrelevant in the topic of 'government cheese' unless the reader already concedes that financial subsidies are equivalent to a government sponsored and managed food manufacturing and distribution program. 'Government cheese' in the Reagan era was almost an entire industry; WIC is just re-allotting public dollars to those who need them. If I were more wikipedia savvy I would remove the entire sentence from the intro because it doesn't fit where it is.

I have nothing useful to say here, but it's rather ironic that you misspelled grammar whilst commenting on bad grammar. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.142.167.27 (talk) 18:15, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

It's not really ironic because grammar refers to syntax not to the proper expression of semantics.

The article at one point refers to the substance distributed as "cheese food". "Cheese food" is under FDA regulations distinct from "cheese". So is the substance under discussion "cheese" or is it "cheese food"?

Who recieved government cheese?
In addition to individual welfare recipients, Childcare centers and private home daycare that cared for 'state kids' - children from low income families who were having their daycare expenses subsidized by the state, also were issued large blocks of cheese in addition to items like peanut butter and butter.

I'm sure this wasn't the only indirect use of government cheese. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.72.194.186 (talk) 19:47, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

On the un-sliced-ness of Government Cheese
It states in the article that "The cheese was provided monthly, in unsliced block form" When I was a young my grandparents used to send us some of their government cheese they got as Social Security recipients. It was pre-sliced and then packaged in exactly the same type of bricks I used to deal with when I worked in fast food restaurants a teen. It could be peeled into slices without any additional tools, albeit with varying degrees of success. The slices weren't individually wrapped, but back then a lot of american cheese came that way.

commodity cheese
I just wanted to add that where I'm from in West Virginia, I grew up calling this stuff commodity cheese. It came in 5 or 10lb presliced packages (sort of the bulk american cheese at Sam's). It wasn't individually wrapped slices either.

188.29.165.72 (talk) 21:20, 21 January 2014 (UTC)matt

The end of the cheese?
Years ago when we were on food stamps (when they came as a staple bound booklet of bills) we'd get cheese, unsliced, butter and paper/foil cans of creamy peanut butter. The "cheese" was always awful. Tasted nasty, was soft and wouldn't slice cleanly. The butter was plain old ordinary lightly salted butter. The peanut butter seemed to have sugar added, it was much sweeter than any store bought. As for the end of it, I recall a report on TV about a government warehouse burning and the surrounding streets being flooded with melted cheese and butter. After that we never got any cheese, butter or peanut butter. Bizzybody (talk) 00:29, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Someone here http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1346299_Does_Government_Cheese_Still_Exist__.html&page=2 says it was a fire in Madison, WI on May 5, 1991. Burned for three days. Bizzybody (talk) 00:34, 1 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20060924120852/http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/facts/hhpfacts/FS-CheeseProcessed.pdf to http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/facts/hhpfacts/FS-CheeseProcessed.pdf

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Source not confirming the statement.
"Government cheese was frequently moldy.”

The document linked does not say that. It stated that the cheese the Government bought was rotting in warehouses as the Government just stockpiled it. I think that statement should be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.157.136.250 (talk) 17:21, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Cheese caves
I feel as though this article is incomplete unless it discusses the caves beneath Missouri where a large portion of the cheese was stockpiled; the caves have become a ubiquitous part of the lore surrounding government cheese. Ithinkiplaygames (talk) 18:20, 7 August 2021 (UTC)


 * @Ithinkiplaygames interestingly googling 'American Cheese Caves' links to this article even though there is no mention of them! Robertm25 (talk) 11:59, 28 March 2024 (UTC)

Is government cheese lactose free?
I’ve heard conflicting opinions on this. 184.23.20.108 (talk) 06:25, 15 April 2022 (UTC)


 * Surely it was like any other cheese made from cow's milk and thus high in lactose? Martinevans123 (talk) 14:43, 28 March 2024 (UTC)