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
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.
‘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.