Hard Cheese - Supervision Requirements

QUESTION: What type of kosher supervision is needed for hard cheese?

ANSWER: The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 29b, 35a-b) records the prohibition enacted against cheese that is not made under the special supervision of a Jew. The Gemara offers different reasons for this rabbinic prohibition, but the reason accepted by most halachic authorities is the concern for the use of rennet enzymes from the stomach flesh of neveilah/non-kosher animals. Unsupervised cheese is termed Gevinas Akum.

Cheese is only permitted if it is Gevinas Yisroel – cheese manufactured under Jewish supervision (Yoreh Deah 115:2). This rule is unrelated to the rules of Cholov Yisroel (Jewish-supervised milk). Therefore, even if a person eats Cholov Stam dairy products, he still may eat only Gevinas Yisroel cheese.

According to the Rama (Yoreh Deah 115:2) and many other poskim, Gevinas Yisroel requires a Jew visually supervising the incorporation of the enzymes into each vat of milk in the cheese-making process to verify that the enzymes are kosher.

According to the Shach (ibid. 20) and many other poskim, supervision is insufficient. A Jew must manually add the enzymes to each vat of milk in the cheese-making process. The Vilna Gaon (ibid. s. 14) provides the rationale for this view: Gevinas Yisroel is similar to Pas Yisroel (bread with onsite Jewish involvement) – just like Pas Yisroel means that a Jew actually participated in the baking process, so too does Gevinas Yisroel mean that a Jew actually participated in the cheese-making process.

Poskim including the Pischei Teshuva (YD 115:6) and Igros Moshe (YD 3:16) rule that the basic halacha follows the Rama, although the OU typically endeavors to fulfill the Shach’s requirement as well when possible. However, there are scenarios where this is impossible. For example, on Shabbos it is forbidden for a Jew to add rennet to milk. Causing milk to curdle is included as an offshoot of the 39 melachos of Shabbos. A Jew may not add the rennet on Shabbos, but he may supervise the cheese is being made.

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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.