Is Cooking Cream Processed Food? The Definitive Answer
                                
                                
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                                    5 min read                                
                            
                                According to the USDA, any raw agricultural commodity that has been altered from its original state is considered a processed food. Commercial cooking cream, unlike fresh cream, is specifically designed to be heat-stable and prevent curdling. This is achieved through additional processing steps beyond simple pasteurization, including the addition of stabilizing and emulsifying agents. Therefore, cooking cream is definitively a processed food, but it is not always ultra-processed.