Spoiling your supper: pork in cheese

[PetraPerson101 0]

In my experience, even Arabs who have been living in the states for 20,30 years might not know this. I didn't know either ... I'm glad I'm not a big cheese eater. Here's the info from the Muslim halal marking authority :

http://www.ifanca.org/faq/

Now, that stinks doesn't it? But here's the good news:

*Vegetarian and Kosher* marked cheeses have no animal stuff in them (well, except for the obvious, milk. )

Two good brands are Polly-o and Cabot. Cabot's cheeses are marked *HALAL* right on the package - so that's extra good. ( Phew! Relief! That's been one of the only cheeses I'd eat - I'm not kidding - it was my *favorite* brand of all if I ever decided to have some cheese. )

Unfortunately though, lots ... I mean LOTS of American foods have cheese on them.

So - you'll have plenty of label reading ... even things that don't seem like they should have cheese - might have it. A sure-fire way to get something that's ok to eat, look for the K (kosher) or even better, the U (Orthodox Union) symbol on the package. Jewish Americans have gotten it right a long time ago - and made it easy for themselves. You can also look for vegetarian markings on the package - or "microbial enzymes" too. Health food stores (like Whole Foods) will normally have vegetarian cheeses. You can also visit Arabic/Pakistani import food stores if you have them nearby (All the cheese products with Arabic on them - even Kraft - and are made for the Middle East / Muslim market - they will NOT have pork/non-halal ingredients). All we need is a good census to show the *REAL* millions of Muslims here in the US, and let companies like KRAFT figure out - hey - there's a good market making Halal cheeses & products.

Oh, and I wish I knew about this earlier. I make it a point of telling people who I think may not have known - or letting at least one person in on the bad news.

[deemabrouk 0]

Polly O huh?? how do you know about them.. My kids would be happy.. they have be dying for string cheeze and Cabot doesnt make it

[doodlebug 3]

I'm confused....cheese comes from milk that comes from cows.................cows are halal so how come cheese is not halal?

[Jenn! 918]

I'm confused....cheese comes from milk that comes from cows.................cows are halal so how come cheese is not halal?

It explains it in the article - enzymes and emulsifiers and all that jazz.

Seriously, I wish I hadn't clicked on this topic.

[deemabrouk 0]

I'm confused....cheese comes from milk that comes from cows.................cows are halal so how come cheese is not halal?

But some of the ingredients to make the cheeze can come from Pigs......

[Imua 0]

I am a Hindu vegetarian and have known about this issue for a long time - if the package says 'rennet' I won't buy it. I am always looking for questionable ingredients on labels. In Great Britain I think some vegetarian group lobbied for clear package labeling and now I think most packaged foods without meat or slaughterhouse by-products(such as rennet) are marked 'suitable for vegetarians'. In India they have a red dot for non-veg and green dot for veg on packages. I hate when I buy something that looks veg but then look at the ingredients and it has beef flavoring or something like that...

BTW Hindus avoid both beef and pork so Indian stores are another good source for packaged foods, soups, etc.

Also are you aware that most commercial soaps made in the US are made of pig and/or beef fat?? I always buy soaps which are made of coconut or palm oil, or marked 'vegetable glycerine'. I told this to a Muslim friend and she was shocked - had no idea....

So I think both Hindus and Muslims should come together on this issue and lobby for clear package labeling - if a product has any animal ingredients at all they should be clearly marked as what animal it comes from. If something is pure veg then it should be marked as such - it would save a lot of time in the market!!!

[PetraPerson101 0]

I am a Hindu vegetarian and have known about this issue for a long time - if the package says 'rennet' I won't buy it. I am always looking for questionable ingredients on labels. In Great Britain I think some vegetarian group lobbied for clear package labeling and now I think most packaged foods without meat or slaughterhouse by-products(such as rennet) are marked 'suitable for vegetarians'. In India they have a red dot for non-veg and green dot for veg on packages. I hate when I buy something that looks veg but then look at the ingredients and it has beef flavoring or something like that...

BTW Hindus avoid both beef and pork so Indian stores are another good source for packaged foods, soups, etc.

Also are you aware that most commercial soaps made in the US are made of pig and/or beef fat?? I always buy soaps which are made of coconut or palm oil, or marked 'vegetable glycerine'. I told this to a Muslim friend and she was shocked - had no idea....

So I think both Hindus and Muslims should come together on this issue and lobby for clear package labeling - if a product has any animal ingredients at all they should be clearly marked as what animal it comes from. If something is pure veg then it should be marked as such - it would save a lot of time in the market!!!

There's plenty of people who watch what they consume and use. Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Vegetarians, end the list goes on. I've seen certain products read things like: "vegetable gelatin, porcine gelatin, fish gelatin" - which technically, should be the way it is.

I'm certain the producers would see a difference in the consumption of their products.

By the way, don't be upset that you've found out. I was somewhat upset that I found out - but very quickly - I was angry with the companies who decided to *decieve* me with putting these ingredients inside products that I thought may be good.

Polly-o string cheese is halal, by the way ^^

BTW - another thing to know : Kosher cheeses are great for everyone - vegetarians & muslims too - because kosher law doesn't allow the mixing of meat & dairy.