How does kraft mac and cheese or velveeta get that tangy flavor?

Question

I'm on a mission to recreate boxed mac and cheese or velveeta shells and cheese.
I've used sodium citrate to make a creamy cheese emulsion from normal cheese. However, I feel that my sauce still lacks a certain tart/piquant/tangy/sour taste.
I've tried adding lactic acid, and while this helps, it only adds more sour, but no "salty tang".
I've read the ingredients list, but off hand can't identify the one thing that makes these "artificial" cheese sauces taste as good as they do!
FWIW, obviously it is easier/cheaper to just buy these sauces off the shelf, but I'm drawn to the challenge and learning that come with replicating at home!
I also understand that these sauces are industrially engineered products with many ingredients and that exact replication would take all ingredients in the original, but I have a hunch that there is a single ingredient that could take my sauce quite a bit closer in flavor.

Sneftel · Answer

When you say "salty tang", I immediately think "sodium citrate".* Increasing the percentage of that, and probably of the lactic acid as well, might get you close enough.
*Okay, that's the second thing I think of.

user85471 · Answer

Looking through the ingredients for mac and cheese you linked to suggests that the ingredients don't tell the whole story.
The cheese sauce mix contains a lot of things, but just like 'real cheese', the same ingredients can be used to make a number of cheese that taste different- the one that stands out is cheese culture. Different cheeses use different cultures to give different flavours.
The enzymes noted also react with the milk to give it a tang when making cheese.
So rather than trying to emulate a cheese, I would use some real cheese.
For a salty touch that could also be described as tangy, I would try a hard cheese like parmesan or pecorino.

How does kraft mac and cheese or velveeta get that tangy flavor?

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