Gmo Cheese
As we enter the new millennium, science and technology are advancing in new ways that were once viewed as impossible. Recently, scientists have been experimenting in a controversial area, genetics. Researchers are developing techniques to genetically modify organisms to increase the final yield in food products (1). GM, or genetically modified, food involves altering a plant, animal or micro-organism's genes or inserting one gene from one organism to another (2). The labeling of these genetically modified foods has become a recent issue. One product in particular that can greatly benefit from biotechnology is hard cheese. The genetically modified organism is not in the final cheese product, but only used in the making of the cheese. Based on this discrepancy, manufacturers can label the cheese as a "genetically modified organism (GMO) free" (4). This leads to the issue whether cheese should bear the genetically modified food label, when in fact there are no genetically modified organisms in the cheese. The answer to this query is yes. If anything is altered in the natural process of production, it is important for the public to know all aspects of that production. When a consumer reads a label they expect to get exactly what is on that label, regardless of the legality and semantics of wording.
The process of making cheese dates back to around 3000 B.C. as a way of preserving and transporting milk. The key catalyst in cheese production is an enzyme entitled chymosin, a byproduct of calf rennet. The enzyme chymosin is the active ingredient of rennet which is used to curdle milk. Traditionally, rennet has been taken from calves' stomachs, but the demand for cheese is greater than the number of calves available, and the chymosin does not always produce consistent batches of cheese. Today there are six major sources of the enzyme protease that can be used to coagulate milk: three from animals and the other three from fungi (4). In addition,...
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