What is National Cheese Pizza Day?

September 5 is National Cheese Pizza Day, a moment to honor the slice so many of us hold dear: pure, simple, unapologetic cheese pizza. Whether you’re a crust-first rebel or a gooey-middle lover (leaving pizza bones in your wake), this day is your invitation to celebrate the dish that’s as classic as it is comforting, without any guilt.

Did you know?

• Over 70,000 pizzerias and pizza brands serve up slices in the U.S., contributing to an industry worth $40B.

• Frozen pizzas are a fine option for convenience, available at most grocery stores and ready to cook at a moment's notice. Just look for the brands that offer ingredients you're comfortable with using the WISEcode app. 

• 46 slices. That’s how much pizza the average American eats each year, whether it’s cheese, pepperoni pizza, or other pizzas.

A Brief History of Cheese Pizza

Cheese pizza’s story stretches back thousands of years, long before the freezer aisle was packed with today’s best frozen pizza options. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all enjoyed flatbreads topped with olive oil, herbs, and other toppings, early ancestors of the pizza we know and love. But it wasn’t until the late 18th or early 19th century in Naples, Italy, that cheese pizza truly began to take shape. Bakers started layering fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce onto pizza dough, creating a simple yet irresistible combination that would change the course of food history.

Fast forward to the 20th century, and the invention of frozen pizza revolutionized how we enjoy this cheesy classic. The first frozen cheese pizzas hit grocery stores in the 1960s, making it possible to enjoy a hot, crispy crust, four cheese pizza or a classic margherita pizza at a moment’s notice.

With so many frozen pizza options now available - from authentic Motor City pizza to DiGiorno Stuffed Crust and everything in between, cheese pizza remains an easily accessible comfort food. And some of them are cleaner than you think. Let's take a look at the most popular frozen cheese pizzas and how they stack up to WISEcode's Ingredient Quality (IQ) Score.

Why Is Cheese Pizza Mainstream Only in the US?

America’s world-leading appetite for cheese pizza isn’t just about taste, it’s powered by decades of powerful dairy subsidies and aggressive marketing spin. In the 80s and 90s, federal programs incentivized mass production of cheese, making it cheap and abundant for makers. National chains and frozen brands doubled down, positioning cheese pizza as the “lighter” choice through ad campaigns and government partnerships, even as saturated fat and calories soared.

Cheese pizza went mainstream because subsidies made dairy inexpensive, while fast-food giants and the USDA pushed extra cheese as an easy win for both industry and consumers.

8 Most Popular Frozen Cheese Pizzas and What’s In Them

Confused by grocery aisles lined with cheesy options? Is cheese pizza BAD for you? Well, does it contain ingredients that might make you feel not-so-good? WISEcode brings precision transparency to your freezer. Using our app, which you can download for free, we’ve decoded the 8 most popular frozen cheese pizzas in the U.S. so you can celebrate National Cheese Pizza Day with absolute confidence and zero label anxiety about what’s inside them.

How to Celebrate with WISEcode

• Scan before you bake: Let WISEcode empower your pizza night and instantly see if a pizza fits your unique goals (ingredients, allergens, processed level, and more).

• Share a slice, spark a conversation: Talk ingredients, origins, and cheesy memories while enjoying your favorite frozen pick.

• Experiment joyfully: Use National Cheese Pizza Day as your permission slip to try a new brand. Turn your kitchen into a tasty lab for the night, and fight the pizza you love both taste and ingredient-wise.

Celebrating pizza? Scan it. Trust it. Enjoy it. Because with WISEcode, there’s truth in every slice.

*We receive no compensation and hold no financial interest in the products mentioned; information is provided based solely on our app and database.