Wait A Sec, Is That Real Cheese On DiGiorno Frozen Pizzas?

Believe it or not, some frozen pizzas (including ones you may have in your freezer right now) are not made with real cheese – and we're not talking about the ones that intentionally use plant-based cheese alternatives for dairy-free and vegan consumers, either. Luckily, if you have DiGiorno stocked in your freezer you're getting the real deal when it comes to the cheese (as well as any other pizza toppings the brand uses).

When you flip over a DiGiorno pizza box, the ingredient list includes real mozzarella cheese (with the components used to make mozzarella cheese listed in parentheses). To be more specific, "low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese (cultured part-skim milk, salt, enzymes)" is what you can expect to read on most DiGiorno pizzas. Some of the brand's pizzas use multiple cheeses, like its Four Cheese Pizza, which has mozzarella, parmesan, asiago, and Romano cheese on the ingredient list. 

Real mozzarella and its subcomponents are consistent across DiGiorno's many pizza varieties, but there is one small exception concerning its cheese stuffed crust pizzas. These pizzas use two types of mozzarella, one of which contains modified food starch and methylcellulose. But don't worry: This cheese is still considered real since these ingredients are commonly added to help cheese maintain its texture, stability, and consistency. Because this formulation appears only in the stuffed crust varieties, its likely a cheese formulation that's necessary to make the unique crust work correctly.

Some brands make seemingly traditional frozen pizza with non-cheese ingredients which try to imitate the flavor and meltability of cheese in order to cut costs or extend the pizza's shelf life. Oftentimes frozen pizzas using "fake cheese" ingredients list ingredients such as "imitation mozzarella blend" which is typically made from a creative mix of starches, water, oil, salt, milk protein, and flavoring.

Plant-based cheeses have similar formulations (minus the milk protein), and as someone whose digestive system doesn't always agree with dairy I've tried my fair share of non-dairy cheeses. In my opinion, most are a far cry from having the same flavor, texture, and meltability as dairy cheese, especially on pizza. It would also be quite difficult for a brand like DiGiorno (which uses several different types of cheese across its pizza varieties) to use imitation cheese. It simply wouldn't produce the same kind of restaurant-quality frozen pizza the brand is known for.

If you're ever unsure whether a frozen pizza — or any food with cheese, for that matter — is made with real cheese, the ingredient list is the place to look. Food manufacturers are required to accurately list the ingredients in their products, and failing to do so can result in regulatory action, product recalls, lawsuits, and damage to a brand's reputation. In DiGiorno's case, its ingredient lists consistently support the "100% Real Cheese" claim printed on the front of its boxes.