Cheese replacement products-a vegan industrial product

Too fat, too salty, too salty, contaminated too much with mineral oil-this is the result of a current laboratory test of “Öko-Test” by vegan cheese, in which twelve different varieties in slices of Edeka, Rewe and others were examined for questionable ingredients. The smell, taste, appearance and consistency were tested. No product received the top grade, some even failed. After all, five cheese cut off with “good” and are therefore considered recommended.

The laboratory demonstrated aromatic mineral oil carbon fabrics four times. These can Including carcinogenic connections. In three products, the measured value was even above the maximum content of food with a higher fat content proposed by the EU. The laboratory found saturated mineral oil hydrocarbons even more frequently. Mineral oil hydrocarbons are complex mixtures with a strongly varying composition, which occur in saturated (mosh, mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons) and aromatic form (MOAH, mineral Oil aromatic hydrocarbons). They mainly come from oil and oil products and to a lower proportion of coal, natural gas and biomass.

Their components can reach food directly in food production or via fleeting mineral oil components of packaging in food. “Öko-Test” suspects that lubrication oils were used in the specific case. The fabrics can accumulate in the human adipose tissue, the liver, spleen and lymph nodes and possibly cause organ damage there.

Cheese replacement contains comparatively little protein and calcium.

Almost all vegan cheese in the test were too salty. However, the salinated salaries differ very strongly. In Finland, with cheese from a content of 1.4 percent, consumers must warn of the high salt content. “Öko-Test” distributes minus points as soon as the salt content exceeds the Finnish value.

Compared to conventional cheese, cheese replacement products contain comparatively little protein and calcium. They mainly consist of water, coconut oil or fat as well as strength. The mixture of their mixture, partly still with the addition of thickening agents, creates a solid consistency. Soft and cream cheese alternatives go through a fermentation process and maturation, similar to conventional cheese, in which fewer additives are usually required. Most manufacturers use flavors to get the real cheese taste. In the test mentioned above, the main components were coconut oil, water and strength – nothing that tastes like cheese.

When shopping, you should note that the list of ingredients does not contain synthetic additives. The vegan cheese should best be certified with a organic seal. Incidentally, vegan cheese must not be referred to as the “vegan cheese”. Only milk from a udder that is processed into cheese is called that – with the exception of coconut milk. Accordingly, the products tested above also meant “connoisseurs” or “natural windows”.

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The degree of industrial processing can be further increased in the event of replacement cheese. For example, with cheese made of artificially produced proteins, which is supposed to revolutionize the replacement cheese market. This was launched for the first time by a startup called Formo 2019.

The idea is to produce proteins from microorganisms that wear the same DNA as the milk protein. The so -called precision fermentation – similar to the beer production – is a metabolic process. Microorganisms are fed with a vegetable nutritional solution. The Formo team took the mushroom koji and planted it by genetic engineering the construction plans for the protein casein contained in cow-DNA. If you give the microorganisms sugar and minerals, they produce. What ends up in powder form in the cheese is simply “natural -identical milk protein”. The milk component fat must be replaced by vegetable fabrics. The product developers admit that it is not quite as easy. The protein produced in the laboratory is not suitable for many types of cheese. What the art cheese cannot do: melt and pull threads in the heat. This can only be cheese from natural milk protein.