Originally published February 21 2014
Hey vegetarians, did you check for calf stomach (rennet) in your cheese?
by S. D. Wells
(NaturalNews) How many vegetarians think that their cheese does not contain animal byproducts? Did you think that, because it says on the package "no rBST hormones" or "no rBGH used with these cows," they didn't kill their babies and carve out their stomachs for some rennet? If you've abstained from eating meat because you feel sorry for animals, especially ones that are treated inhumanely, what about their babies? You may want to make your own pizzas with vegetarian cheese instead of ordering out or dining in. You may want to rethink your choices. Also, you may want to check the labels on every package of cheese you buy, from now on, for rennet, the lining of calves' stomachs.
If you are vegetarian, but not vegan, you consume eggs and other dairy products, figuring that no animals had to die to produce that food, but what about the calves? There are over 10 million cows being milked in America right now. On average, those milking cows give birth about once every 16 months. That means around 7 million calves are birthed each year. Half of those calves are born female and are raised to become milking cows like their moms. Of the males, only about one in five become veal cutlets on people's dinner plates, so what happens to the rest? Are they "studded out?"
A typical baby male calf weighing about 100 pounds is sold at the age of one week, and four months later they're sold at cattle auctions. What happens next is NOT displayed on the cheese package or some happy little farm scene painted on the wall above the butcher station at your grocery "super" store. (http://bestmeal.info)
Buying cheese without rennet is very important
Rennet is added to most cheese to speed the coagulation process and separate the milk into solid curds and liquid whey. The way is drained away, and the curd is pressed and molded into your cheese blocks or shredded. Some are matured (aged) after that. The rennet is used because it contains an enzyme called chymosin from the fourth stomach of newborn calves or lambs. Only the babies have this enzyme to help them digest and absorb milk. Most European cheeses use rennet. (http://www.naturalnews.com)
You may not be the person scraping out the inside lining of a baby cow's stomach, but you may just be one of millions responsible for making sure that more calves suffer that same fate, because you purchase it and purchase without second-guessing, without double-checking, without filtering. You may not be the one who pulls the trigger or slits the throat with a knife, but you may be the "indirect executioner" of CAFO food by being a constant, ignorant consumer. (http://bestmeal.info)
Beware of GM rennet
There is more bad news, before bringing the good news, so hang in there. Did you know that there is genetically modified (GM) rennet? Yes, not just from calves fed GM feed either. This gets uglier than that. There are laboratories which "create" rennet from fungal and bacterial sources that function like the animal-based kind. They may even label it as "non-animal" rennet. Therein lies the trick. Genetic engineering techniques can extract the DNA which encodes for chymosin (from calf stomach cells) and insert it into microbes -- thus creating a microorganism that grows chymosin in commercial quantities. (http://bestmeal.info)
Hello Monsanto, the biotech company with horns and a cane. What other bacteria, viruses and pesticides may be getting brewed up in that lab with the chymosin? Only GM scientists, politicians and Big Food know that answer. Are they bragging because they're not slaughtering calves? What about slow human slaughter with cancer, does that count? (http://www.vegsoc.org)
Now here comes the GOOD NEWS!
If you don't know already, there is vegetarian rennet. It is obtained from fig leaves, safflower, melon and wild thistle. Check for cheese labels that distinguish the three rennet categories: animal, microbial and vegetable. (http://www.traderjoes.com)
Eat vegetarian cheese, and maybe all those calves won't end up on the shelves of the convenient stores in the form of snacks, beef jerky, dog chews and conventional cheese for the Obamacare masses. Don't feed the "corporate" madness. Do more research on rennet made from fig leaves, safflower, melon and wild thistle.
(http://vegetarian.lovetoknow.com)
Sources for this article include:
http://notmilk.com
http://www.notmilk.com
http://www.straightdope.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://vegetarian.lovetoknow.com
http://bestmeal.info
http://www.enerex.ca
http://bestmeal.info
http://science.naturalnews.com
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