Kosher Cheese OU

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summarised [1602 to 579 words] from an essay by Rabbi Gordimer, Rabbinic Coordinator at the Orthodox Union and expert in the Kashrus of dairy products.

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Adding rennet for Kosher cheese

Cheese is classified as either acid-set [soft] or rennet-set [hard].
In both the solids are separated from milk, which is a colloid and form a curd, to be collected and either kept loose or compressed. 

Sometimes cream (milk fat) and non-fat milk powder are added to modify the fat ratio; vinegar to adjust the milk's pH, and cultures and enzymes to adjust flavour and assist the rennet. 

FAQ
How is cheese Kosher?
All ingredients as well as the equipment used for manufacture must be Kosher. Furthermore, by Rabbinic decree cheese has special Kosher requirements.

What is the source for Gevinas Akum?
The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 29b, 35a-35b) records that the sages of the Mishnaic period decreed that cheese be made with special rabbinical supervision ostensibly to ensure that calf’s stomach, in which are found the glands that produce the rennet, and used for making cheese, are from Kosher slaughtered animals.

Gevinas Akum is not at all related to the ban on unsupervised milk from a non-Jew. Even those who consume Chalav Stam may not eat Gevinas Akum.

Gevinas Akum will disqualify any utensils used in making and serving it.

Tiny amounts of rennet make cheese non-Kosher
In many cases tiny amounts of non-Kosher are Battel, or insignificant. However, tiny amounts of rennet which dramatically alter the milk to make cheese are not Battel. It is a Davar HaMaAmid (Yoreh Deah 87:11). 

Non-animal derived rennet?
Cheese made from Kosher non-animal [flower nectar or tree sap or microbial] rennet, still requires special Kosher production methods. (Rambam, Hilchos MaAchalos Asuros 3:14 and Shulchan Aruch ibid., 115:2)

Cheese manufactured in Europe generally uses animal rennet. Furthermore, lipase, an enzyme used to hasten the breakdown of fat and endow a more powerful flavor is invariably animal-derived.

Products derived from Kosher to eat animals will also be Kosher.

There is no issue of mixing meat and milk, since it is only used in tiny amounts that are Battel.
Furthermore, there is no Torah prohibition since there is no cooking. Also, the rennet and lipase are flavourless [actually the rennet is unspeakably acidic].
As far as Davar HaMaAmid is concerned, that only applies to non-Kosher whilst the enzymes are actually Kosher.) Still, even cheese made with glatt kosher animal rennet and lipase is considered Gevinas Akum when manufactured by without special rabbinic supervision, as the sages created a general ban on such cheese.

How does one make Gevinas Yisrael?
Although some authorities require no more than Kosher supervision of the cheese making, others insist on Kosher participation in the manufacturing process - the rabbi must add the rennet.

The OU insists that the Mashgiach supervise all Kosher cheese production as well as adding the rennet.

Where the rennet is automatically added, the Mashgiach will activate the process.

Cheese made in specially supervised plants is automatically considered Gevinas Yisrael, thereby alleviating the need for full-time rabbinic supervision or involvement (Shach on Yoreh Deah 115, s.k. 20).

Does Gevinas Yisrael also apply to soft cheeses?
There is disagreement about this and on the whole, Kosher organisations are lenient.

Why is kosher hard cheese so expensive?
The manufacturing plants need to be shut down in order to be purged and made ready for Kosher production. Then a special Kosher batch is produced with Kosher ingredients. The cost of Kosher ingredients and the cost of a team of Kosher supervisors, are not insignificant.