Is Taco Bell nacho cheese vegetarian?

Question

Vegetarian in this sense means no meat products or byproducts. Dairy ingredients are acceptable.

Answer 1

Here is the 'official list of ingredients in Taco Bell nacho cheese:

Nacho Cheese Sauce *
Cheese Whey, Skim Milk, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Food Starch, Cheese (Milk, Cultures,
Salt And Enzymes), Water, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Caseinate, Acetic Acid, Citric Acid, Natural And Artificial
Flavor, Jalapeno Peppers, Salt, Annatto Extract, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Chloride, Mono &
Diglycerides, Carotene Color, Paprika Oleoresin. CONTAINS MILK
Cheese Whey, Skim Milk, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Food Starch, Cheddar Cheese (Cultured
Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Disodium Phosphate, Jalapeno Puree, Sodium Caseinate, Salt, Vinegar, Sodium Stearoyl
Lactylate, Sodium Citrate, Yeast Extract, Sucrose, Color Added (Including FD&C Yellow #6), Citric Acid, Lactic
Acid, Natural Flavors. CONTAINS MILK
*Will Contain One Of The Ingredient Statements Above, Depending Upon Regional Suppliers

Per detailed converstations I've had with Taco Bell customer service *ALL* their cheese may be made with rennet!! They do not know the source of the glycerides used. In addition the natural flavorings *MAY* contain animal ingredients from beef, chicken or pork!

As a general rule if you order "fresco style" their food can be veggie friendly (of course a beef burrito still has beef) but they are no longer insuring that their 'real' cheese is veggie friendly and made without rennet.

Answer 2

Nacho Cheese Ingredients

Answer 3

Bell Cheese

Answer 4

You'd have to find out direct from the company. For a cheese (even the processed variety they use in the fast food industry) to be vegetarian, it has to have been made using non-animal rennet. Ordinary rennet is made from the stomachs of slaughtered calves, therefore not acceptable. I doubt you'll find the answer on here or on the net. Write to the company and ask them.

Answer 5

I looked on their website, but I can't find the specific ingredients of the nacho cheese. Obviously it's not vegan, but I'm assuming it's vegetarian.

Answer 6

Yes, nacho cheese is an all dairy product. The taste in the cheese is not from meat products.

Answer 7

HI There
Let me first tell you that most cheeses are not vegetarian.
The very process of cheese involved adding Animal Rennet into the milk to make cheese.

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.


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.


The chief use of rennet is in the making of cheese and Junket.

So when you choose to eat out, know that you are eating a nonvegetarian cheese.
If you want to eat cheese, look for the ingredients. The ones which don no have animal rennet says, no animal rennet or enzymes. There are ones with vegetarian rennet, it says vegetable rennet only.

Answer 8

Taco Bell nacho cheese isn't even FOOD.

Answer 9

What is with all you vegetarian haters out there?!

I don't think it is vegetarian standard, sorry. At the very least it is made from processed chese which has renet (spelling) in it.

Answer 10

all this talk about taco bell cheese is making me hungry!