Cheese contains rennet caseins as do other foods.
In order to make cheese, specific ingredients are needed to curdle the milk product. Each cheese product may need different ingredients to make their special flavors but all need to solidify in some way, and that is the purpose of rennet caseins. In the past, it meant using the stomach lining of a calf to complete the task. These days, the process can be done with microbials and powdered forms of rennet caseins.
Rennet
Rennet is a salt extract that comes from the lining of the fourth stomach of a milk-fed calf or baby cow. The enzyme rennin is found in the rennet and is a part of the process to make cheese by helping the milk thicken or coagulate into the cheese product. These days, rennet can be produced as a microbial by growing the protein on micro-organisms.
Casein
Casein is the main protein found in milk and cheese curds, consisting of 80 percent of the protein. It is responsible for the white opaque coloring associated with milk. Casein is a component of a variety of food stuffs including coffee creamers, nutritional bars and imitation cheeses. To make casein, it is necessary to first separate milk from the cream. Then the casein is separated out from the skim milk.
Rennet Casein
When these two components are combined, the enzymes of the rennet thickens and curdled the casein proteins. In the laboratory, rennet casein is created when the casein protein is inoculated with the rennet enzyme. Once the coagulation occurs, the compound can be isolated, washed and dried, to be used in other foods. This process allows the calcium to remain bonded to the casein.
Concerns
While rennet casein is primarily used to make cheeses, it can be found in other products. People who suffer from milk allergies can have an allergic reaction because they unwittingly ingested a casein product. Another concern is for those who are following a vegan diet which prohibits the consumption of food made with animal products. Rennet casein originates from the cow and would be consider an animal product. The best way to know if a product has rennet casein is to read the product ingredient list.
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