Based on the sales numbers, the popularity of natural versus processed cheese remains high as consumers continue to seek local, artisan options and clean labels. But one option has ticked up in popularity for both natural and processed — cheese shreds. On the flip side, the same can’t be said about grated cheese options.
The natural cheese category’s dollar sales were up 5.6% to $12.5 billion and units were up 2.2% to 3.6 billion in the 52 weeks ended Oct. 5, 2014, according to Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago. In the processed cheese category, numbers improved very slightly with sales, up 0.1% to $3.1 billion, but units were down 5.3% to 873.4 million.