Free Republic

The FDA is cracking down on companies that are lying about selling 100% Parmesan cheese The FDA is warning pasta and pizza lovers that cheese labeled “100 percent Parmesan” are often filled with cheese substitutes—like wood pulp. Yes, you’ve been eating wood, thanks to companies like Castle Cheese, which produced Parmesan cheese containing no actual Parmesan for almost 30 years. The president of the company, which supplied megastores like Target, is scheduled to plead guilty this month to charges that carry a sentence of up to a year in prison and a $100,o00 fine, according to Bloomberg.

A Norwegian biorefinery company has started turning waste wood fibre into a cream-like fat substitute which it claims can be used to make ice cream, mayonnaise and even hot dogs. Borregaard has already opened a plant in Wisconsin, USA, producing the revolutionary new substance, which it calls Sense-Fi,and plans to open a second factory in Sarpsborg, Norway, in 2016. "We are rolling it out primarily in the US, where it has been approved. Sales are just about underway, and there is a lot of focus on fighting obesity," says business director Harald Rønneberg Borregaard to Norway's Dagbladet newspaper. Researchers at...

THE hottest new material in town is light, strong and conducts electricity. What's more, it's been around a long, long time. Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC), which is produced by processing wood pulp, is being hailed as the latest wonder material. Japan-based Pioneer Electronics is applying it to the next generation of flexible electronic displays. IBM is using it to create components for computers. Even the US army is getting in on the act, using it to make lightweight body armour and ballistic glass.