Cottage Cheese and Cream Cheese

Must cottage cheese and cream cheese be gevinas Yisroel?

A. In the previous Halacha Yomis, we presented different opinions about the status of ricotta cheese. The Pri Chadash allowed ricotta cheese even if it was not gevinas Yisroel, because he considered it to be more similar to butter than to cheese. Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l (Igros Moshe YD 2:48) offers another reason to allow non-gevinas Yisroel cottage cheese. Chazal forbade gevinas akum out of concern that non-kosher animal rennet may be used. This would only apply to hard cheese that is generally produced with rennet, but not cottage cheese that is set with acid. However, he suggests that perhaps Chazal established a lo plug (an across-the-board measure) and required gevinas Yisroel for all types of cheese. He concludes the teshuva without a definitive ruling; he is not confident to rule leniently, but also does not condemn anyone who follows that position. In a separate teshuva (Igros Moshe YD 1:50), Rav Moshe renders a similar ruling for cream cheese. Nonetheless, Rav Belsky zt”l related that Rav Yosef Eliyohu Henkin (1881-1973), one of the great poskim in America from 1922-1973, ruled in accordance with the Pri Chodosh, and his opinion was accepted by American Jewry. It is on this basis that the OU certifies soft cheese which is not gevinas Yisroel. Those who wish to be strict should purchase chalav Yisroel versions of these products, which are made with a mashgiach temidi in compliance with the stricter opinion that soft cheeses are subject to the gezeira of gevinas akum and need to be gevinas Yisroel.

Notwithstanding the above dispute, all opinions agree that even acid-set cheese must be purchased with reliable kosher supervision, as it might otherwise contain non-kosher cultures, stabilizers, and other ingredients, and it might be processed on non-kosher equipment.

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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.