Foodies shocked to learn Parmesan cheese is not vegetarian friendly as it’s made using animal rennet

Australia
By William

Shocked foodies claim they’ll never eat Parmesan again after finding out how it’s made: ‘I think I’m going to get sick’

  • Parmesan cheese is made with animal rennet
  • The substance is found in the stomach of young mammals
  • Due to the use of rennet, the cheese is not vegetarian friendly

By Louise Allingham for Daily Mail Australia

published: | Updated:

Foodies are horrified after learning exactly how Parmesan cheese is made—and many swear they’ll never eat it again.

In a viral outburst, a woman said she was shocked to discover that the popular cheese contains a substance from a calf’s stomach.

“Years old today when I found out that Parmesan cheese is made from a baby cow’s stomach and I could cry. I need to go full vegan right now,” she said in a tweet.

The substance known as animal rennet is an essential ingredient in traditional Parmesan cheese, a fact that has particularly baffled many vegetarians.

Rennet is an enzyme found in the lining of the stomachs of mammals, usually young cows, sheep or goats, that helps them digest breast milk.

Vegetarian foodies share their shock over the ‘horrific’ discovery that Parmesan cheese is made with rennet, a substance found in the stomach of a baby cow

The animals must be killed so that cheesemakers can extract the substance, making anything containing the ingredient unsuitable for vegetarians.

‘Wow, I had never heard that! Dairy is really scary,’ someone commented.

‘Terrible! Why are we eating baby something like kind?’ asked briefly.

What is Rennet?

Rennet is usually taken from the fourth stomach of a relatively young grazing animal, such as calves, goats or lambs.

That stomach is prized for its concentration of an enzyme called chymosin, which gradually loses its potency over time as grass replaces milk in that animal’s diet.

Traditionally, obtaining that rennet meant cutting young calves’ stomachs into small pieces that were dropped into salt water or whey, with something acidic such as wine or vinegar used to extract the enzymes.

Once that solution is filtered out, it can coagulate a significantly larger amount of milk.

More modern methods use a bit more precise chemistry to get more potent rennet, but still involve a calf’s stomach.

Source: All Recipes

‘I did not know that. This makes me very sad. I like parmesan, but don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat it again,” admitted a third.

One user replied that although it is common knowledge for many, she often sees Parmesan dishes offered to vegetarians in restaurants.

“You’re not alone — I still see ‘eggplant Parmesan’ as a ‘vegetarian’ option in restaurants or suggested recipes in ‘vegetarian’ articles,” she wrote.

“It’s one of the few cheeses still made that way,” another commented, while a third said, “Most hard cheeses are made with rennet.”

Other cheeses traditionally made with the animal product include Gorgonzola, Pecorino Romano, Camembert, Gruyère, and Manchego.

Vegetarians need not despair, however, as some cheese producers have started using animal-friendly rennet.

‘Rnett does not have to be of animal origin, there are vegetarian variants that work the same way. That, but it’s true you have to check this to be able to say it’s really vegetarian,” one person wrote.

‘Most rennet nowadays uses genetically modified yeast and bacteria in production, instead of calf stomachs. Of course, there are still some products that use veal stomachs (tradition), but most mass-produced cheese uses GMO rennet,” agreed another.

‘This process is deprecated and no longer used due to mass production (as far as I know)! You can safely eat your chicken parmesan!’ said a third.

Can parmesan ever be suitable for vegetarians?

Traditional Parmesan cheese is called Parmigiano-Reggiano, a highly regulated cheese made in Italy under strict guidelines.

A hard aged cheese made from cow’s milk, made with an ingredient that may be foreign to non-cheese makers: calf rennet.

The use of rennet is essential for the production of traditional Parmigiano Reggiano.

Parmesan cheese is a close cousin of Parmigiano Reggiano that can be made elsewhere without strict regulations; it may or may not contain calf rennet.

Other cheeses in the larger Parmesan family can be made with vegetarian rennet (also called microbial or vegetable rennet) that does not come from animals.

Indications that a cheese is vegetarian can be found on food labels that clearly state that the product is cruelty-free.

In the absence of such transparency, you can look for “microbial rennet” on the ingredients list, or stick to kosher products, which religiously use vegetarian rennet.

Source: Parade. com

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