Government Supervision of Cheese - Continued

Q. Does Rav Moshe Feinstein’s leniency of chalav stam for milk that is supervised by government inspectors apply to cheese as well? Is there a concept of gevina stam, similiar to chalav stam? (Continued from the last installment.)

A. At first glance, this question has no validity. Rav Moshe is lenient with chalav stam because it is illegal to adulterate milk. In contrast, with respect to cheese, it is perfectly acceptable to use animal rennet. Nonetheless, the question can be posed regarding a cheese that is labeled vegetarian. Using animal rennet in a vegetarian product would be illegal because it constitutes consumer fraud. Can we rely on government truth-in-labelling regulations for vegetarian cheese, just as Rav Moshe relied on government inspections for milk?

According to the Shach, it is obvious that government regulations will not suffice for cheese production. As noted previously, the Shach insists that the Yehudi add the rennet to the milk, and to satisfy that requirement, government regulations are irrelevant.

Our question can be posed if we follow the position of the Shulchan Aruch that the Yisroel need only be present at the cheese production to ensure that the ingredients are kosher. Will government regulations on vegetarian cheese be adequate just as they are for milk? The answer is that government regulations suffice for chalav Yisroel but not for gevinas Yisroel, because the requirements for cheese are stricter. This is clear from the Shulchan Aruch (YD 115:2), who writes that even if one can tell that cheese was made with herbs and not with rennet, it is treated as gevinas Akum, unless a Yehudi was present. We explained above that this follows the principle of lo plug - we do not distinguish. The Rabbis instituted the requirement of supervision in all situations, across the board, even though there are no questionable ingredients. (Interestingly, the Rema writes that there was a rare custom in some locations, such as Narbonne in southern France, to allow non-supervised herbal cheese. However, in the absence of a tradition, herbal cheeses are forbidden.) Thus, a mashgiach must be present even if we are certain that all the ingredients in the cheese are kosher. By the same token, vegetarian cheese manufactured without a mashgiach is gevinas akum, even though we are certain that animal rennet was not used. On the other hand, the Chochmas Adam (67:1 and 7) writes that lo plug does not apply to chalav akum, and there is no restriction in a situation where there is evidence that there was no adulteration. Because there is no lo plug by milk, Rav Moshe allows regular milk when there are government inspections.

______________________________________________________

The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.