vegetarians beware!

i'm sure most of you are aware of these things, but just in case...

do not eat cheese!

pick up any bag or bottle of store-bought cheese and read the ingredients. "enzymes" will be listed as an ingredient. in the case of the majority of cheeses, these are ANIMAL-BASED enzymes. it is mostly found in harder cheeses, like cheddar and also parmesan.

to all you vegetarians who eat at subway, their cheese contains these enzymes! you should never eat cheese in a public place. if you must ask, the chef will probably not know for sure, or lie to you.

the only way to be sure that a brand of cheese does not use animal-based enzymes is to e-mail the company directly. sometimes "enzymes" can refer to vegetable or microbial-based enzymes, but animal-based enzymes are cheaper and therefore the most frequently used!

just a tip from one herbivore to another. good luck!

Ummm.. cheese is an animal product. What is your point?

I'm pretty sure vegetarians can eat cheese and drink milk . Vegans don't.    

Right.. I just don't understand why it is such an issue that an enzyme in cheese might be an animal product, since cheese itself is an animal product. If someone were a vegetarian for health reasons, it seems pretty insignificant. If someone were a vegetarian for ethical reasons and was concerned about the origin of an enzyme, it really doesn't make sense that a person like that would eat dairy anyway. Lots of meat, including veal, is a byproduct of the dairy industry. And dairy cows are basically slaves with far less freedom, space, etc. than range cattle.

You know uh.. cheese comes from milk, which comes from an animal, right?

The OP's point, though indirectly stated, is that while vegetarians may opt to consume dairy, as it is produced without killing the cow (and is not animal flesh), the enzymes (rennet) come from the digestive system of dead calves.

Though I do agree with Denise, the typical dairy cow situation is quite bleak. The majority of dairy products do not come from happy green farms. In fact, from an ethicial point of view, I feel more comfortable eating MEAT from animals that we've raised here at home (knowing exactly how they were raised) rather than dairy from those horrible factory farms. Meanwhile, I really do need to look into getting my own cow as I really do love cheese and yogurt.