I would have you people to know that I stripped and ground for pasteurizing USDA barrels and I cooked a little bit of it.
The intent was to support Class 111 milk prices by purchasing American barrel on bids from the creameries . Reprocessing into finished 5 pound was also a bid contract. Specifications were very high. American cheese is not your Velveeta . That's cheese spread.
Now many Midwestern dairy farms were not federal milk order (USPHS) inspected dairy farms Therefore their milk could only go into manufacturing grades Class 111 and IV, That was their only market. It was an effort to keep them going through this program with the finished American cheese product donated to schools, prisons etc.
Now my parents little dairy farm (36 milking) was inspected by both USPHS and State Dept. of Agriculture. Therefore the milk from that farm could go into Class1(bottled milk) and Class 11 (ice cream) .
Now whether you're Grade A (Class 1&2) or not (Class 111&1V . There's no damn money milking cows which helps to explain why the US has been losing dairy farms at a pace of 2000 per year for the past several years.
If any of you are cheese lovers I can tell you this. No matter the type processed or aged naturally there is simply nothing that compares to the taste of 90 day barrel raw American....And I mean it. I miss that taste to this very day and I've never tasted anything that compares to it.