I have known for a long while about most cheeses containing rennet, but I recently started wondering whether feta cheese and cream cheese is included in that group. I used to be a major fan of greek salads smothered in feta cheese, however, I gave up eating cheese altogether when I found out about the rennet situation a long time ago. I was looking at a picture the other day in a cookbook for a greek salad, and I started to have a strong craving to make one. I tried looking online to obtain information about whether feta cheese contains animal rennet, but I did not find very helpful information. Today I looked at the grocery store at the ingredients, which weren't very detailed. So, I decided to come to the experts. Do any of you know if feta cheese contains rennet or if there are some brands that do/don't? I was wondering about cream cheese as well. I heard a while ago that cream cheese does not contain rennet, but I never looked much into it. Thank you in advance for the replies!
Feta cheese isn't necessarily vegetarian: it tends to contain rennet. However, the Vegetarian Society website suggests that veggie feta does exist. I think the situation is the same as with other cheese - you just have to look for it. Cream cheese, I'm afraid, I don't know about. It would seem logical for that to contain rennet as well, but I can't be sure. One thing you could try is looking at the websites of the specific brands you're interested in. I don't know where you are, so I don't know what the laws are like on ingredient labelling. If they're a bit ropey, then you might have more luck with company websites. They often have ingredient lists on their sites, and some even go so far as to produce lists of veggie-friendly products. Good luck.
Here is a list I found... I've been having the same battle with cheeses too, but I decided to try and stay away from them all together rennetless or not since I am a little intolerant of dairy. I would definately check the ingredient lists either way cause it seems like a long list. Hope it helps. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 1-800-558-7315) 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.
mlo, that's a really useful list. Where did you find it? I wonder if there's a UK equivalent somewhere. I don't eat dairy products myself, but I have vegetarian friends who would find such a list useful.
if one is eating dairy cheese, what would whey matter? looking for vegan, and that pesky casien and sometimes whey, Ok, yeah I get that. But why the warning on MILK cheese?
I was wondering that too, but that is just what it said under the list where I found it. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~veggie/nonveg/cheese.html I was also wondering, if the ingredients list enzymes then at the end of the list says "contains no animal rennet" does that mean that it is vegetarian? I saw a few cheeses that had this on it, like the cabbot cheeses.
I was wondering the same thing. A lot of the cheeses that I see just say "enzymes," and I am assuming that most of them contain rennet, but a few of them, like you said, say "enzymes" and "contains no animal rennet." I am guessing that they are vegetarian in this case, and the enzymes that are used are microbial enzymes.
I thought this was pretty interesting... I didn't know until I read this thread about an animal product being in cheese(rennet), so I e-mailed a local creamery whose cheese I enjoy to see if they use rennet and this is the reply I got: Brad, I am responding to you inquiry on the ingredients used for cheese. All Bongards natural cheese contain chymosin (cheese coagulating enzyme), annatto color which is an extract of the seeds of Bixa orellana), cheese culture (cultured bacteria naturally found in milk), and salt. Rennet is not used for any cheeses produced at Bongards and most cheese companies will use chymosin which is an enzyme derived from a dairy yeast called Saccharomyces (Kluveromyces) lactis. Rennet which is extracted from calf’s stomachs is not commonly used for cheese making throughout the industry. Newer technologies with the chymosin enzyme produce better cheese for flavor and texture. All Kosher cheeses use the chymosin enzyme because rennet is not approved by most Rabbinical Unions. There are Kosher rennet’s, but this is rare and requires Rabbinical supervision to produce. All salt used is food grade evaporated salt which is 99.9% pure. The chymosin, annatto coloring for colored cheeses, and cultured bacteria are purchased from major dairy ingredient companies to assure superb quality with a certificate of analysis provided for each lot of ingredient that is received and used in the production of Bongards Cheese.
Cheese is crap. It is unhealhtlhy and I would not recommend supporting the dairy industry as cows are treated like trash in it. They are seperated fro their babies at an early age, and many of their babies are forced to live as veil calves in cramped crates for the remaineder of their iron-deficient lives.
Let's not turn this into a veggier-than-thou fight here, or I WILL close the thread. You are vegan and we support you. Most of these posters are new veggies and I will do whatever it takes to keep them on the path. Perhaps it ends here, perhaps they will become vegan. I do not think that all veggies are on the road to vegan. If you want to fight, go to veggie boards.
and Tillamook also uses veggie rennet. I eat so little cheese, that the flavor HAS to count, so I reccomend using sharp, which allows you to use less.
