ARTICLE
Islamic dietary law does not prohibit Muslims from eating cheese, so long as that cheese does not contain prohibited
substances such as wine, guinness beer, cheese mites, or pork. However, some Muslims may avoid eating foods containing
cheese, or cheese by-products such as whey that were produced using natural rennet because of their concerns that the
veal-calf was not
zabiha
slaughtered.
CHEESE FAQs
Why do we classify most Cheeses as HALAL(?) ?
|
As with all food FOODS containing an ingredient sourced from a
halal
animal
, AMNA classifies most cheese as
HALAL(?)
.
What is Animal Rennet?
Natural Rennet is a complex mixture of digestive enzymes found in the stomachs of milk-fed ruminant baby animals: sheep, cows, camels, goats, etc. Rennet enables them to digest their mother's milk.
Each species produces a special kind of rennet which will only coagulate milk from the same type of animal. Therefore, in cheesemaking, calf rennet must be used to produce cow milk cheese, kid rennet must be used for goat milk cheese and lamb rennet must be used for sheep milk cheese - there's even camel rennet for camel milk cheese!
Does animal rennet for cheese come from PIGS?
NO. Animal rennet must come from the same species of animal as the milk being used in for cheese. Pig enzymes are used on the cheese flavored coatings of some snack chips to "develop unique flavors".
What is GM Rennet?
GM Rennet is produced by micro-organisms, fungus, bacteria and yeast, whose DNA have been genetically altered to enable them to produce calf rennet. This is achieved using Recombinant DNA techniques — splicing strands of rennet-producing cow DNA to the DNA of the micro-organism. The micro-organisms are kept in a nutrient rich solution. As they multiply, the rennet they produce is harvested. Chymax, a GM Rennet developed and produced by Pfizer, is one such example that uses this technique.
Although ANIMAL RENNET is traditional in cheesemaking, 75%-80% of commercially produced cheeses use GM Rennet to make cheese.
What is Vegetable Rennet?
Vegetable Rennet is a microbial rennet extracted from mold (usually mucor miehei ). It has no animal origin. This is the rennet used by those who do not want to use any animal products in their cheese other than the milk. Vegetable rennet is often found in Kosher cheeses .
Is Cheese ever straight-out HARAM?
YES. Some cheeses and cheese products such as
Port Wine Cheese Spread (reference not currently verified)
and
Guinness Cheddar (source link unavailable)
contain ALCOHOL. AMNA identifies these with the
ALCOHOL ICON
.
Other cheeses and cheese products may contain PORK or pig-sourced products. AMNA identifies these with the
PORK ICON
.
related topics:
SPOTLIGHT HALAL
: Whey
SPOTLIGHT HALAL: Frito-Lay Snacks (Doritos, Fritos, Lays)
What are Kosher cheeses
?