Kraft Foods announced offers KRAFT Singles sans preservatives.

The popular American cheese slices are reported to have no artificial preservatives while retaining taste and texture, a Kraft Foods Group, Inc.news release reported via PR Newswire.

"We know families today want convenient foods that have no artificial preservatives and a simpler, more recognizable ingredient list, and Kraft is working to deliver more of these options for some of our most beloved brands," Brian Gelb, Senior Associate Brand Manager, Kraft Foods, said in the news release. "Kraft is excited to deliver the same great tasting American cheese it always has with KRAFT Singles - always made with real cheese, milk and no artificial flavors - and now with no artificial preservatives. It's just simpler this way, and it's the way cheese fans want it."

The cheese started appearing on grocery shelves within recent weeks, and is marked with a red circle claiming the product is is free of artificial colors and flavors," the Milwaukee .Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reported.

The preserves were removed in the "full-fat American and White American varieties" the Journal Sentinel reported.  The company has replaced Sorbic acid with a "natural mold inhibitor" called natamycin.

Kraft claims the cheese varieties have lacked the preservatives for years now, bur the company has just now decided to start advertising as such.

"Consumers are looking for those less artificial cues and messages," Gavin Schmidt, manager of cheese research and development at Kraft, told the Journal Sentinel. "Those messages are more meaningful to consumers than they have been in the past."

Schmidt said the preservative-free cheese took five years to develop because the creators wanted to ensure the product maintained its iconic taste and shelf life. The company claims to have plans to remove the preservatives from the two-percent milk "fat-free or other full-fat varieties," the Journal Sentinel reported.