Why are some cheeses labeled as "vegetarian cheese"? Why wouldn't cheese be vegetarian? What is rennet?

Answer 1

Some vegetarians (sometimes known as vegans) won't eat anything that is an animal byproduct. (Some people that call themselves vegetarians will, but just won't eat meat.)

Typically, cheese is made from milk, an animal byproduct. However, what is known as "vegetarian cheese" is not made from milk, and instead an non-animal rennet is used in the process (rennet is an enzyme that curdles the cheese-- in regular cheese it comes from the animals stomach, in "vegetarian cheese" from one or another plant fungus).

Answer 2

Cheese is often made with rennet or rennin, which is used to coagulate the dairy product. According to the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, rennin, which is an enzyme used in coagulating cheese, is obtained from milk-fed calves. "After butchering, the fourth stomach...is removed and freed of its food content." After this the stomach goes through several steps including being dry-salted, washed, scraped to remove surface fat, stretched onto racks where moisture is removed, then finally ground and mixed with a salt solution until the rennin is extracted. To read more go to: www.vrg.org/nutshell/cheese.htm
There are some cheeses that are made with vegetable, fungal, or microbial enzymes. We now have a list of vegetarian cheeses on our site at www.vrg.org/nutshell/cheesebybrand.htm. You can also take a look at Trader Joe's lists (note - I'm not sure when these lists were last updated, and some companies might have changed production ingredients): East Coast: www.traderjoes.com/tj/products/brochures/rennet_east.stm and West Coast: www.traderjoes.com/tj/products/brochures/rennet_west.stm

Answer 3

Vegetarian cheese is made from Soy. I am Vegan so I don't eat any dairy or meat.

Answer 4

true vegetarians won't eat anything that came from an animal. there is milk in cheese and that comes from cows,goats etc.

Answer 5

because the real cheese comes from cows the other soy Beans

Answer 6

Everything you wanted to know ...
-MM

Answer 7

RENNET
Rennet is a natural complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to digest the mother's milk. Rennet contains a proteolytic enzyme (protease) that coagulates the milk, causing it to separate into solids (curds) and liquid (whey). The active enzyme in rennet is called rennin or chymosin (EC 3.4.23.4) but there are also other important enzymes in it, e. g., pepsin or lipase. There are non-animal sources for rennet substitutes
Sources
Thousands of years ago, people discovered that milk stored in a dried stomach – especially the fourth stomach of a young calf – will become hard and remain fit to eat for a long time.

The most common source for animal-based rennet is the abomasum (fourth stomach) of slaughtered, milk-fed, newborn cow calves. However, stomachs of other young ruminants such as goats (for goat's milk) or lamb (for ewe's milk), and pseudo-ruminants like camels (for camel's milk) are also used.

Uses
The chief use of rennet is in the making of cheese and Junket. Chymosin reacts specifically with κ-casein, cleaving the protein between the amino acids phenylalanine(105) and methionine (106), producing two fragments. The soluble fragment (residues 106-169) which becomes part of the whey is known as glyco macro peptide and contains the glycosylation sites for κ-casein. The other component (residues 1-105) is insoluble. This in the presence of calcium ions causes the coagulation of the casein micelles to form a curd.


[edit] Production of natural calf rennet
Natural rennet is produced in the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach of young ruminants. These stomachs are a by-product of veal production.


[edit] Traditional method
Today this method is only used by traditional cheese-makers in central Europe, e.g. in Switzerland, Jura in France, or Alp-Sennereien in Austria.

Dried and cleaned stomachs of young calves are sliced into small pieces and then put into saltwater, together with some vinegar or wine to get a lower pH. After some time – overnight or several days - this solution has to be filtered. This crude rennet can then be used for coagulation of the milk. 1 gram of this solution should then coagulate 2000 to 4000 grams of milk.


[edit] Modern method
Deep-frozen stomachs are milled and put into an extracting solution – in this solution the enzymes are extracted. The crude rennet extract is then activated by adding acid – the enzymes in the stomach are produced in an inactive pre-form and are activated by the stomach acid. After neutralisation of the acid, the rennet extract is filtered in several stages and concentrated until reaching the required potency - e.g. 1:15.000 (1 kg of rennet would have the ability to coagulate 15,000 litres of milk).

1 kg of rennet extract contains about 0.7 grams of active enzymes and no other organic material – the rest is water and salt and sometimes some sodium benzoate, E211, 0.5% - 1% for preservation. 1 kg of cheese contains about 0.0003 grams of rennet enzymes.


[edit] Alternative coagulants
Due to the limited availability of proper stomachs for rennet production, cheesemakers have always looked for other ways to coagulate the milk. Only about 35% of worldwide cheese production uses animal rennet.[citation needed] Artificial coagulants are a useful alternative, especially for cheap or lower-quality cheeses.

As the proper coagulation is done by enzymatic activity, the task was to find enzymes for cleaving the casein that would result in taste and texture similar to what animal-based rennet produces.


[edit] Vegetable rennet
Many plants have coagulating properties. Some examples include fig tree bark, nettles, thistles, mallow, and Creeping Charlie. Rennet from thistle or cynara is used in some traditional cheese production in the Mediterranean.

These real vegetable rennets are also suitable for vegetarians. Vegetable rennet might be used in the production of kosher cheeses but nearly all kosher cheeses are produced with either microbial rennet or GM rennet. Worldwide there is also no industrial production for vegetable rennet. Commercial so-called vegetable rennets usually contain rennet from the mold Mucor miehei - see microbial rennet below.


[edit] Microbial rennet
There are some moulds like Rhizomucor miehei that have the capability to produce proteolytic enzymes. These moulds are produced in a fermenter and then especially concentrated and purified to avoid contamination with unpleasant side products of the mould growth.

The flavour and taste of cheeses produced with microbial rennets tend towards some bitterness, especially if longer maturation is wanted. These so-called "microbial rennets" are suitable for vegetarians if there was no animal-based alimentation used during the production in the fermenter.


[edit] Genetically engineered rennet
Because of the above imperfections of microbial rennets, some big companies sought further replacements of natural rennet. With the development of genetic engineering, it suddenly became possible to use calf-genes to modify some bacteria, fungus or yeast to make them produce Chymosin. Chymosin produced by genetically modified organisms was the first artificially produced enzyme to be registered and allowed by the FDA in the USA. In 1999, about 60% of U.S. hard cheese was made with genetically engineered Chymosin.[1]

Today the most widely-used genetic rennet is produced by the fungus Aspergillus niger. The problems of destroying the aflatoxins or the antibiotic resistant marker genes seem to be solved.

Cheese production with genetic rennet is similar to production with natural calf rennet. Genetic rennet contains only one of the known main chymosin types – either type A or type B. Some of the other chymosin types found in genetic rennet do not exist in natural rennet. This is also the reason why special analysis can determine what kind of coagulant has been used.

Often a mixture of genetic Chymosin and natural pepsin is used to imitate the complexity of natural rennet and to get the same results in coagulation and in development of flavour and taste.

The so-called "GM rennets" are suitable for vegetarians if there was no animal based alimentation used during the production in the fermenter -- but only for vegetarians who are not opposed to GM-derived foods.

List of Vegetarian cheeses
According to the following cheese companies, these cheeses do not contain rennet or any other nonvegetarian enzymes:

Kraft
Kraft Natural Swiss
Kraft Cream Cheeses
Grated Parmesan

Stella
(phone [phone])
Mozzarella
Provolone
Parmesan
Ricotta
String cheese

Frigo
Mozzarella

Giant
Cheese made by Pauly
County Line: Old World Swiss, Colby, Monterey Jack
Giant Cream Cheese
Giant Natural Swiss slices
Giant Natural Muenster slices
Biery cheese
Giant Chunk Cheese: New York Sharp, Wisconsin Cheddar, Longhorn, Swiss, Danish Havarti, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack

Sargento
Pepper
Muenster
Cheddar

Mid American Farms
Parmesan
Mozzarella
Cheddar

Cabot
all cheeses
Remember to check the ingredient list of the cheese if you're not sure. Look out for rennet or enzymes. Many packaged cheeses and other foods contain Vitamin A Palmitate, which is made from fish gelatin. Also, check for whey, since this is a byproduct of the cheese-making process

Cheese is often made with rennet or rennin, which is used to coagulate the dairy product. According to the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, rennin, which is an enzyme used in coagulating cheese, is obtained from milk-fed calves. "After butchering, the fourth stomach...is removed and freed of its food content." After this the stomach goes through several steps including being dry-salted, washed, scraped to remove surface fat, stretched onto racks where moisture is removed, then finally ground and mixed with a salt solution until the rennin is extracted. To read more go to: www.vrg.org/nutshell/cheese.htm

There are some cheeses that are made with vegetable, fungal, or microbial enzymes. We now have a list of vegetarian cheeses on our site at www.vrg.org/nutshell/cheesebybrand.htm. You can also take a look at Trader Joe's lists (note - I'm not sure when these lists were last updated, and some companies might have changed production ingredients): East Coast: www.traderjoes.com/tj/products/brochures/rennet_east.stm and West Coast: www.traderjoes.com/tj/products/brochures/rennet_west.stm.