U. S. cheese production is booming, with almost a quarter of the world’s cheese coming from inside our borders. That equates to more than 5 million metric tons (11 billion pounds) produced in the United States in 2013 alone.
With this growth in overall production has come increased usage of cheese as an ingredient for industrial users. In 2012, the total cheese volume used in industrial production in the United States was approximately 2.6 billion pounds, or 25% of all cheese consumed in the United States.