Inside Missouri Cheese Cave: Why Does the U.S. Government Store Billion Pounds of Dairy?

In the U.S., Missouri is known for having many caves. Having approximately 7,500 shelters, Missouri became famous for being the Cave State. It has commercial caves that attract visitors, such as the Fantastic Caverns and Meramec Caverns. There are also less popular, nameless caves along the state parks and landscapes. Unbeknownst to many, Missouri is also home to caverns filled with tremendous cheese.

The Truth About Missouri Cheese Caves

Missouri cheese caves are deep within the Ozark Mountains' heart under Springfield. Made of converted limestone mines, the caves are perfectly kept at 36 degrees Fahrenheit to give an ideal environment for storing stockpiles of government-owned cheese.

It all started in the 1970s when the U.S. suffered from a national dairy shortage which was made worse by 30% inflation on dairy products. In response to the economic crisis, then-President Jimmy Carter decided to spend money on the dairy industry to encourage dairy production.

The government set A new policy where a two-billion-dollar budget was allotted to subsidize dairy products over the next four years. This plan was favorable to farmers but also led them to overproduce dairy products. The farmers became motivated to produce as much dairy as they could because they knew that whatever was not sold on the market would be bought by the government.

Most dairy products were converted to cheese because they have a longer shelf life. By the early 1980s, the government-owned more than 500 million pounds of cheese. Because of this, the next U.S. President, Ronald Reagan, had to pass a law in 1981 enacting the public distribution of government-owned cheese.

That year, the Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block showed up to the media and announced that the government owned 60 million pieces of five-pound blocks of cheese. From then on, the term "government cheese" was born. The federal government distributed the cheese blocks through the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

In the years that followed, the demand for cheese declined, but the production rate remained the same as the government continued to support dairy producers. As of 2019, the collection comprises almost 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese in the U.S.

How Long Does Cheese Last?

An ordinary cheese can last from two weeks to six months in the fridge, depending on various factors such as moisture content, storage practices, and preservatives. Before the invention of the refrigerator, humans have been aging and storing cheese in caves. This is because caves are usually cool and maintain a consistent humidity level.

Cheese can go bad due to the presence of microorganisms such as bacteria and molds that could live on it. As they ruin the dairy product, the microbes can be harmful or release toxins that can make a person sick. On the other hand, the way cheese starts to lose out on flavor the further it gets from the moment it was created can be explained by the breaking down of complex molecules that make up the dairy product.