Problem: making cheese acceptable to vegetarians - a visit to Lincolnshire Poacher.

Cheese forms a large proportion of the worldwide diet and as can be seen from the table, it is consumed widely in European countries. Top cheese consumers (2003) Ethics and the environment. / kg per person per year 8 There are concerns about farming impacting on the Greece 27.3 environment and a dairy farm is no different. Grass is the France 24.0 primary food source for cows and any fertilisers or Italy 22.9 pesticides sprayed on these can lead to run-off and Switzerland 20.6 eutrophication which causes harm to fish. Pesticides can also enter local food chains where organisms that ingest them cannot break them down so they persist in their bodies. The pesticides build up higher levels until they become toxic to larger organisms. 17 Lincolnshire Poacher holds organic farm status; they avoid the use of nitrogen, pesticides and fertilisers. Since grass forms a large part of our cows diet, the fewer chemicals that are used on it, the better. They also use good old fashioned cow muck 1 to replace the nutrients that the grass takes from the soil but not all dairy farms are like this. More seriously, some ethically concerned people have raised objections to the dairy industry as a whole. In some cases, they claim that dairy cows give birth to up to six calves during their unnaturally shortened lives (a cows normal life span is 20 to 25 years but usually 5 for a dairy cow). 13 Not only does this mean a continuous high milk yield but the calves are a source of the enzyme rennet for cheese making. GM Rennet However, the enzyme rennet has further implications for vegetarians because it is at its highest concentration in calves which are killed young before they can reach maturity. As an alternative to the slaughter of animals for rennet, recombinant rennet is also now commonly used in cheese making. For production of the enzyme, a non-pathogenic strain of E. coli bacteria, as wells as yeast cells has been engineered. In fact, 90% of all vegetarian cheese sold in Britain now uses GM rennet. 14 This is controversial because many people feel genetic modification also has ethical implications. In fact, there are further ethical implications for vegetarians themselves because they feel that the use of an animal gene is unacceptable. The 33rd World Vegetarian Congress pledged We oppose the introduction of animal genes into plant foods. 15 I feel that these intrinsic objections have not fully explored the scientific implications. Ethical vegetarians want to prevent animal suffering and thus do not want calves to be harmed for animal rennet. But a rennet gene has no capacity to suffer! Genes are just sequences of the chemical bases and cannot be described as exclusively animal or plant. A gene from an animal could also easily be in a plant, shown since humans share almost 60% of their genes with bananas! 16 More practically, since the bacteria are modified and not the Chymosin gene itself, no GM bacteria remains in the cheese after it is made. Before going on to look at alternatives to GM rennet, we need to look how the enzyme is actually used to make cheese at Lincolnshire Poacher.

Cheese making an overview 98% of Lincolnshire Poacher cheese is made of milk. 6500 litres of milk are added into the junket for every one batch of cheese made. The main principle of creating cheese from milk is based on the coagulation of milk into a curd and the removal of whey. There two stages to the coagulation process. Initially, starter culture is added to convert lactose (milk sugar) to lactic acid. This begins coagulation. Animal rennet (enzyme) is added to the milk in a ratio of 1:5000 litres of rennet to milk. This further allows curds and whey to separate through affecting proteins in milk and will be explored in more detail.

After coagulation, the whey is allowed to flow away. The curd is stirred and sets. In the production of Lincolnshire Poacher, it is first milled into chip sized pieces and later the whole cheese is matured for between 12-24 months, during which time the flavours develop. It is then packaged and is marketable. 1. Adding bacteria to break down lactose into lactic acid. These are from the class Lactobacillus which break down lactose to lactic acid, ethanol and carbon dioxide. Lactose is a disaccharide sugar, made up of glucose and galactose and is most commonly found in milk, thus often called milk sugar. Disaccharides form in condensation reactions, where two monosaccharides are joined by a glycosidic link as shown. 2 It is estimated that a worldwide average of 70% of adults are lactose intolerant. 2 The addition of starter culture is significant in cheese making for three reasons: This process removes the vast majority of lactose sugar from milk. After a maturation period, only trace levels of lactose remain in most hard cheeses making it generally suitable for those with lactose intolerance. The removal of lactose also reduces the sweetness of the milk and increases the acidity. This increase in acidity of the cheese is good . A rapid accumulation of acid is usually sufficient to inhibit the development of the majority of pathogenic bacteria 3 also. As the pH of the milk is lowered, this begins the coagulation into curds and whey, in a process called acid coagulation. At the same time, the acidity of the medium increases the solubility of minerals such as calcium. So the casein micelles begin to disintegrate and casein begins to precipitate. 4 More on casein micelles below!

The coagulation of milk is a fundamental aspect of cheese making. The addition of an enzyme to the milk is what causes this and I will now explore this in more detail, especially because this is the root of the problem, being traditionally extracted from calves stomachs. 2. Adding enzymes to cause coagulation by affecting the protein casein. In cheese making, the enzyme Chymosin from rennet prompts the coagulation of the milk into a curd. Rennet is a complex of enzymes found in any mammalian stomach, but for cheese making it is extracted from calves stomachs where it is available in large amounts. Chymosin is the active ingredient in Rennet. Although a curd can be formed from acid alone, Chymosin allows curdling without high acidity. This is important because flavour-making bacteria are inhibited in high acidity environments. 20 The biology behind coagulation involves proteins in milk and the effect Chymosin has on them.

Which proteins are found in milk? 3.4% of milk is protein and the majority of milk proteins are a group called caseins, about 80% of milk proteins. The different casein fractions are alpha (s1) and alpha (s2) caseins, beta casein and kappa casein. What does Chymosin do to casein to promote coagulation? Alpha and beta caseins are hydrophobic proteins and readily coagulate in the presence of calcium. The distinguishing property of these caseins is their low solubility at pH 4.6. The normal calcium concentration in milk is more than required to precipitate these proteins. So what prevents milk always coagulating? In terms of stabilising milk, the key protein is kappa casein. K-casein is a distinctly different molecule to alpha and beta casein. It is soluble, hydrophilic and not precipitated by calcium. The alpha and beta caseins interact with it, and are prevented from precipitating. In essence, kappa casein keeps the majority of milk proteins soluble. 6 The action of Chymosin on kappa casein. Chymosin is added and reacts specifically with K-casein hydrolysing the protein between amino acids phenylalanine (105) and methionine (106) producing two fragments. 7 The mixture is heated to 40oC so that the enzyme reaches the optimum temperature where it will work the most effectively. Alternatives to GM Rennet. The main objections to cheese involve its utilisation of enzymes from animals; apart from GM enzymes, no other suitable alternatives have been found. There is currently no worldwide production of non GM vegetarian rennet. This is partly due to the fact that many farms, including Lincolnshire Poacher feel that vegetable rennet creates a bitter tasting cheese. 1, 18 The task remains to find enzymes that will create an outcome similar to animal based rennet. Progress towards finding vegetarian but non-genetically modified rennet alternatives is in progress. Some moulds, such as Rhizomucor miehei are able to produce suitable protease enzymes. However, current government food safety organisations deny safety status to these enzymes. 19 Further testing will be required. The implication of success would be cheese that is both vegetarian and is not genetically modified. Milk can be coagulated by acid alone but this does not allow the flavour-producing bacteria to thrive 20; casein that was modified to coagulate at a higher pH is a possibility because it would suitable for those who object to animal rennet but not GM food. Milk coagulation can even happen on its own from the natural fauna present. However, this will take 4 days for one vat of Lincolnshire Poacher cheese 1 which with acid and rennet takes approximately 6 hours, 1 and is therefore not economically viable. So if milk was modified to spontaneously coagulate, the implications would be economic success for the industry as rennet would no longer be a necessity. Cheese making may at first seem a simple process but a closer look reveals its complexity, depth and biological technicality.

Source Evaluation The information obtained form Lincolnshire Poacher 1 was obtained through demonstration by the head cheese maker. I can thus put a degree of trust in it. However, I have confirmed the validity of the data. For example, where Lincolnshire Poacher claim artificial rennet creates bitter cheese, further research (18) confirms this. I have used books concentrating on milk fermentation and cheese making from scientists familiar with this field, (4, 7) which are equally valid as they provide a scientific explanation for the general process which I have confirmed with scientific literature.

There are shortcomings of other information used, such as statistics; eg. the nutritional information (9) can only estimate the percentage components of cheese, as it varies greatly due to milk used and the diet eaten by the cows. It also only takes into account one type of cheese. One advantage of some other information such as from Eurostat (8) is that it is a non governmental non profit making organisation which minimises the risk of bias. Some sources are comparably less valid, particularly those dealing with ethical issues. It is important to consider exaggeration. For example, when considering peoples ethical objections to the dairy industry, the sources available are often animal cruelty prevention or vegetarian promotion websites. This is because it is difficult to find data from an independent body conducting widespread research into a prolific area such as dairy farming. A website called Mercy for Animals (13) is likely to rely on worst case scenarios and exaggeration to make a point. This is less valid than other data but does still show some peoples ethical objections, if not the complete basis of them.

Bibliography 1. Observations on visit to Lincolnshire Poacher and accessing website www.lincolnshirepoachercheese.com 2. Lactose intolerance (British Nutrition Foundation) http://www.nutrition.org/home.asp?siteld=43&sectionld+850 3 Kendall, A. I. (2007): Bacteriology, General, and Pathological, p607. 4/5 Law, B.A. (1999): Technology of Cheese Making, CRC Press inc, p27 6 Cheese: Dairy Science and Technology, University of Guelph Cheese site, Section D, http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu.cheese.html 7 Fox, P. F. (2000): Fundamentals of Cheese Science, Springer, Chapter 6. 8 Consumption of cheese, data from Eurostats, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1996,3914098 9 Dairy product nutritional information, CNN Interactive (Oct 20th 2004), http://www.cnn.com/FOOD/resources/food.for.thought/dairy/compare.dairy.html 10 Dont say cheese cheese is the No 1 source of artery clogging fat, Centre for Science in the public interest (2001), http://www.cspinet.org/new/cheese.html 11. Obesity Statistics: U.S. Obesity Trends, North American Association for the Study of Obesity (2006), http://www.naaso.org/statistics/obesity_trands.asp 12. Per capita U.S. cheese consumption, University of Wisconsin Dairy Marketing and Risk management, Diary Market graphs and data, http://future.aae.wisc.edu/ 13. Dairy Cows, Mercy for Animals, http://www.mercyforanimals.org/dairy_and_veal.asp 14. Genetically modified food case studies: Chymosin, University of Reading NCBE, www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/NCBE/GMFOOD/chymosin.html 15. Carrell, S. (2003): How British vegetarians have unwittingly become consumers of GM food, Independent on Sunday, July 13th, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20030713/ai_n1274283 16. How much DNA do plants share with humans?, John Hewitson in Science & Plants for schools, http://www.saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/recorsd/rec539.htm 17. Pesticides and the Food Chain, Food Standards Agency, www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/foodpestfacts 18/19 Agboola, S., Chen, S. & Zhao, J. (2004): Formation of bitter peptides during ripening of ovine milk cheese made with different coagulants, School of Wine and Food Sciences, Charles Sturt University, http://www.dairyjournal.org/index.php?option=article/2004/05/L0420/L0420.html 20 How cheese is made, Cheese links in Home Cheese Making, http://www.cheeselinks.com.au/howmade.html

Commentary
1. Biological methods and processes used.

The problem of making a non GM vegetarian cheese is identified clearly (1.1a=2) and discussed in some detail (1.1b=2). There is quite a bit on cheese making but not actually much in the way of methods for GM rennet itself (1.2a=1). There is some discussion of using GM rennet as a means of avoiding ethical objections from vegetarians (1.2b=1). The appropriateness of GM rennet is discussed briefly but there is little data given (1.3a=0, 1.3b=1).
2. Applications and implications of the biology encountered

The ethical issues of using either animal rennet or GM rennet are discussed as are the environmental problems associated with non organic farms (2.1a=2 and 2.1b=2). The disadvantages of using GM rennet for vegetarians are highlighted briefly (2.2b=1) but there could be more of a discussion of the advantages of not using animal rennet. The alternative solutions of using either vegetable rennet or acid coagulation rather than animal or GM rennet is discussed in reasonable detail (2.3a=2, 2.3b=2).
3. Evaluation of source material

There is an excellent range of both web based and non web based sources (3.1a=1, 3.1b=1 and 3.1c=1). Quotes are used very well within the report as part of the discussion (3.1d=1). All the sources are described fully in the bibliography (3.2a=2 and 3.2b=2). Lincolnshire Poachers claim that artificial rennet creates bitter cheese is followed up and discussed in some detail. However, although the Eurostat figures are queried, they could have been followed up in more detail (3.3a=2) and evidence is given (3.3b=1).
4. Communicate clearly, concisely and logically

The report is well set out and spelling, punctuation and grammar are good (4.1b=2). There are visuals that are referred to and the technical language is good (4.2b=2). NB. Some visuals and graphs are not included because of copyright reasons.

Overall mark 31 marks out of 40, almost certainly a grade A piece.