“If you don’t read the news you’re uninformed, if you read the news you’re misinformed.” Mark Twain
The same can be said for labels. While our “health freedom” advocates go after the most obvious chemical concoctions, or suffle around useless info about calories and so-called vitamins, folks who really do care about their health are getting duped by seemingly healthy foods.
I believe we all know that counting calories is a fool’s errand. But for those who might still not get it, here’s a 2nd grade level demonstration.
Now let’s get to the graduate level. Enzymes and cultures and rennet, are they all the same? The modern cheesemakers would like you to believe they are, but they are certainly not.
My issue is with the deception, just to be clear, that is always my issue. If folks choose, with proper information and informed consent, to consume chemicals and lab-made food, I have no problem with that. As the kids like to say, “You do you!”
But this is not what’s happening. These foods are being forced on consumers under an illusion of choice. We are not even privvy to proper food labeling and cheese is a prime example.
Most cheeses sold today will have the same ingredient list as I do when making a 100% natural cheese: milk, culture, rennet, salt. Looks simple enough, but it is far more complex than that.
Pasteurized milk or raw milk? Natural cultures or lab-produced cultures? Animal rennet or the ‘new’ so-called vegetarian rennet?
Already we enter deceptive marketing practices on the topic of rennet, because most folks don’t know what it is or how it is acquired in nature.
So the manufacturers of vegetarian rennet are relying on consumer ignorance rather than informed consent.
I claim this because they are insinuating, by appealling to vegetarians, that it is more humane than animal rennet. When it comes to the modern abhorent feed lots and poor treatment of animals ina factory-farm setting I suppose they could be correct.
But in traditional dairy farm protocol this is completely false. Hubby jokingly calls it “male privilege” because the practice is, only females are raised to maturity. Boys are sold, castrated or not, or raised separately to be slaughtered for meat after a couple years in the field.
Natural rennet is acquired by extracting the abomasum of the young ruminant animal’s stomach, which we have done here on the wee homestead, if you want to check it out.
For the average farm this is not an issue, as there are plenty of males which can be slaughtered for this purpose. Not that it takes more than one, because it will last a VERY long time, as is proven in “3rd world” dairy operations still today. This is a process called ‘backslopping’ where a rennet-culture solution are reused for an entire season, similar to how sourdough starters are “grown” and reused.
But when it comes to huge dairy operations with fancy equipment and many rotating employees and assembly-line production this doesn’t work. It’s not consistent and reliable enough, there are too many variables in such a living product and as the old adage goes, too many hands spoil the broth.
For the giant manufacturers these lab-created cultures and vegetarian rennet are a necessity–for them, not for the consumer. However, their aim is to make it appear as if they are doing it for “consumer choice”. Even as the consumer has no choice!
Vegetarian rennet is now the norm, used in the vast majority of cheeses sold in the US. The same goes for the added starter cultures and “enzymes” used for flavoring and consistency, all produced in a lab. As they are showing images of happy cows on lush green fields and quaint farmhouses on their labels and websites, this image is as deceptive and manufactured as those ingredients.
While conscientious consumers rightly raise concerns over animal welfare and antibiotics in their milk, they’ve barely scratched the surface of the issue. Even the “organic” label here is deliberately deceptive.
Rather than be honest with consumers, instead we get gaslit. We are suddenly dealing with “allergies” and “intolerences” where none existed before. We are informed we must take special “enzymes” if we insist on eating dairy foods. We are directed to the new dairy-free products made by the same manufacturers and also produced in a lab.
And when we try to do our due diligence to understand what is in our food and why it now causes us health problems, as I have, we are given the runaround.
I’ve been on the runaround track for a week now by the Customer Service department of the popular brand Swiss Colony, a major seller of cheeses and meats. They are clearly trying to run me down by being avoidant and evasive about a very basic question–what’s in your cheese?
After reading all the information on their website and getting no answers, I contacted them directly. Yes, they use “vegetarian” rennet, which I already knew from their Q&A section.
My initial inquiry:
Hello,
please inform me of the complete ingredient list for your Baby Swiss Cheese, meaning the specific types of cultures and enymes being used, and if possible, the manufacturers’ names for those and as well as your vegetarian rennet.
thank you,
Their reply:
Thank you for contacting Customer Service.
We have forwarded your inquiry to the proper department and will reply with an answer as soon as we receive the information.
We appreciate the opportunity to be of service.
Then, the next day:
Our Baby Swiss uses vegetable rennet. Please see below for the requested list of ingredients.
INGREDIENTS: PASTEURIZED WHOLE MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES, CALCIUM CHLORIDE.
ALLERGY INFORMATION: CONTAINS MILK.
So, the obvious assumption here is, if you have allergies to this product, it’s because you have milk allergies. Then you get their list of solutions to your problem, links to all their “alternatives”.
- Dairy-Free, Vegan Mozzarella Cheese That Melts Perfectly, Plant-Based, 7 oz 6-PACK, Lactose Free Cheese with No Allergens, Non Dairy Cheese.
- Never Better Foods Plant-Based Shredded Cheddar & Mozzarella Cheese Blend, 6 Pack (6 x 7 oz Bags), Dairy-Free, Vegan, and Allergen-Free, Ideal for Cooking, Melting, and Meal Prep
- Empasta Vegan Cheeze Sauce – Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free – Creamy, Easy Melt, Low-Calorie Cheese Sauce Alternative for Dips, Pasta, Nachos, Burgers, Veggies & More – 12oz sustainable jar (Smoked)
- Madly Hadley Plant-Based Parmesan Cheese, 2 packs – 16oz | Original Vegan Cashew Parmesan Grated Topping for Pasta, Salad, Sauces | Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Non-GMO, Soy-Free, Keto-Friendly
Clearly they did not answer my direct questions, so I tried again. And again. And again. And I’m still waiting for my answers.
I will return with their answer, if I get any, in the next post, along with a more upscale brand, to demonstrate more money doesn’t always mean a more natural product.
