Rennet is used as a clotting agent to curdle the milk into cheese, separating the liquid parts of milk from the solids. It’s an essential part of the cheese-making process.
Today, there are four types of rennet used in the cheese-making industry: animal rennet, vegetable rennet, microbial rennet and a genetically modified version called FPC (fermentation-produced chymosin), made by Pfizer.
Bioengineered FPC was granted Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) status, which exempted Pfizer from the pre-approved requirements that apply to other new food additives. This is even though studies have detailed concerns about safety.
An estimated 90% of North American cheese is made with FPC rennet, and ingredient labels do not distinguish between bioengineered rennet and the original animal-based type so consumers have no way of knowing what they’re eating.
“Milk is a relatively pathogen-free source of fluids that could be critical during times of water scarcity. Cheese provides a means of storing these nutrients to be used when milk production is low, and can be easily transported.
“Furthermore, fermentation of milk into yogurt or cheese lowers lactose content and allows lactose intolerant individuals to reap the benefits, while maintain, or in some cases enhancing, other essential nutrients such as fat and calcium.”
But cheese was traditionally made with just these four ingredients:
- Milk.
- Salt.
- Starter culture, what’s used to make the desired cheese strain (for ex. Muenster versus Swiss).
- Animal rennet is used as a clotting agent to curdle the milk into cheese, separating the liquid parts of milk from the solids — a very vital part of the cheese-making process!
You add culture to milk and let it ferment. Then, you add rennet, which separates the milk into curds and whey. Then you press the curds and age them. And voila — cheese!
“Microbial [enzymes] are mainly produced by fungi and bacteria in the process of growth and metabolism. Microorganisms have the advantages of a short growth cycle, easy fermentation, and are not limited by space and region of production …
“Therefore, the cost of microbial MCEs [microbial enzymes] is low … However, it is found that most MCEs have high PA and low MCA/PA ratios leading to low cheese yield and bitterness.”
How FPC is made
Here’s how it is made: The rennet-producing gene is taken out of the animal cell’s DNA string and then inserted into the bacteria, yeast or mold host cell’s DNA string in a process known as gene splicing (a type of recombinant DNA technology).
Once inserted, the newly placed gene initiates the production of the chymosin enzyme within the host. The host culture is then cultivated and fermented.
These recombinant DNA technologies are relatively new and became popular in the 1980s when the U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote ruled that new life forms can be patented.
So then in 1990, in another precedent-setting decision by a U.S. government office, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of FPC in food. It was the first time a bioengineered product was permitted in food in the U.S. It gets better.
This bioengineered FPC was granted GRAS status. This means that Pfizer was exempt from the pre-approval requirements that apply to other (non-GRAS) new food additives.
Since Pfizer demonstrated what is often referred to as “substantial equivalence,” the FDA concluded that bioengineered chymosin was substantially equivalent to calf rennet and needed neither special labeling nor an indication of its source or method of production.
© Copyright RawNews1st
