confusing

[mamajoan]

After a recent discussion on vegetarian, I contacted Kraft Foods to ask about the rennet/cheese cultures used in their cheese, specifically Cracker Barrel cheese. (For those who don't know, some cheese contain rennet, which is an enzyme made from the stomach linings of cows and therefore considered unacceptable by many vegetarians.) I received the following email reply from Kraft:

---begin quote---
We appreciate having the opportunity to respond. Please note that our comments apply only to products manufactured in the United States.

Most of the cheese we manufacture contain a microbiologically produced coagulating enzyme called chymosin. The process of converting milk into cheese is dependent on coagulating milk through the use of this enzyme. Although our sharp and extra sharp Cheddar cheeses do not contain a coagulating enzyme of animal origin, they may contain animal derived enzymes which assist in flavor and texture development.

Other products utilize a microbial rennet which is derived from the growth of pure cultures of bacteria or mold. Examples of our products which contain this type of enzyme include KRAFT Natural Swiss Cheese, KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese.

Soft cheeses utilize another method of coagulating milk by the growth of pure cultures of bacteria in the milk and the development of lactic acid. Our cream cheese products, such as PHILADELPHIA BRAND Cream Cheese and Light PHILADELPHIA BRAND Neufchatel
Cheese fall into this category.
---end quote---

I've read this over about ten times and still am not entirely sure what it's saying. Can anyone translate this into English for me? I'm particularly concerned with the paragraph about cheddar cheese, since it's my favorite kind. I'm fairly sure that the phrase "microbiologically produced" means that the enzyme in question is created in a lab (and therefore vegetarian), but I'm not 100% on that. Also, the sentence about cheddar cheese really has me stumped.

If anyone out there with some knowledge of biology, chemistry, or just jargon can make this comprehensible, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Comments

I'm guessing here a bit but

[yduras.livejournal.com]

It sounds like they are saying that they do not use a rennet, although they do use something like that that is derrived from a bacterial culture (which should be ok?)

The bad news is that in some cheeses, like cheddar, they use flavor and texture enhancing ingredients that are animal derrived in some batched. (That sort of language usually means that different processing plants use different recipes, so any individual sample might or might not have that ingredient.)

[alyse]

I hope you don't mind me butting in when I spotted this on my friendsfriends page :) I can answer your question, though, and as a veggie I sympathise.

Okay, short answer is that the only cheeses that use any animal derived products are the sharp and extra sharp cheeses.

The long answer is that none of their cheese uses calves stomach linings, which is the question you asked them. Instead of rennet derived from animals, they've used rennet which has been grown especially from genetically manipulated bacteria. This is the vegetarian equivalent of rennet, and that's what many hard cheeses use if they're marked as vegetarian, which many are these days. I presume it must also be cheaper these days than the animal sort ::g::

However, as I said above, those two particular types of cheese (sharp and extra-sharp) do use animal products. It's not clear from their response whether those products are derived from dead animals or not, but I would guess yes, since they mention them specifically (and I can't see that it would be easy to get them any other way).

Hope that helps :)

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Okay, short answer is that the only cheeses that use any animal derived products are the sharp and extra sharp cheeses.

Parmesean also contains rennet. I don't think that counts as sharp or extra-sharp. So alfredo sauces aren't vegetarian unless specified to contain vegetarian rennet.

Re:

[alyse]

You can get vegetarian parmesan :) (At least in my local supermarket - maybe I'm just lucky :))

In this case I was actually talking solely about the response Chlaal got to her mail to Kraft above rather than generally, so when I said 'the only cheeses that use animal products are the sharp and extra sharp cheeses' I was referring solely to the Kraft sharp and extra sharp cheeses, not sharp and extra sharp cheeses in general. In their response they do actually specify that their Kraft Grated Parmesan cheese is made with microbial rennet.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

You can get vegetarian parmesan :) (At least in my local supermarket - maybe I'm just lucky :))

Oh, I can get vegan parmesan at my grocery store. But if you buy a jar of alfredo sauce, or get fettucini alfredo in a restaurant, then it's most likely not vegetarian.

In this case I was actually talking solely about the response Chlaal got to her mail to Kraft above rather than generally, so when I said 'the only cheeses that use animal products are the sharp and extra sharp cheeses' I was referring solely to the Kraft sharp and extra sharp cheeses, not sharp and extra sharp cheeses in general. In their response they do actually specify that their Kraft Grated Parmesan cheese is made with microbial rennet.

Ah, I thought you were referring to cheeses in general, not Kraft cheeses. Confusion lifted!

[tiggrrl.livejournal.com]

My interpretation is the same as alyse's, it's only the sharp and extra-sharp that you have to worry about at all, and even they don't have rennet. Since they were so good about getting back to you with the info, you might ask them for more details on what goes into the sharp and extra sharp cheeses, if you care.

Also, if you have Trader Joes out your way, they have an entire handout in their store that analyzes which of their cheeses are completely veg, and all the cheeses are labeled saying what contains rennet, vegetarian rennet, microbial action, etc.

Generally speaking, the cheeses that I have found most likely to contain rennet are hard cheeses, fresh mozzarella, and many small batch specialty cheeses, but nowadays they are usually labeled.