#cheese making

this has been bugging me for a while so I decided to post it because I felt it fit this site.

Pigeons are some of a few birds which produce milk. So why haven't we turned it into Cheese, surely there's ways to ethically collect Pigeon milk.

Im not saying it would be good, but I feel like it's a disgrace to humanity that we haven't at least tried it!

I mean, we inventedcheese in the first place, where are we drawing the line at pigeon cheese!

Flamingos also seem to produce Milk from my research, why haven't we made flamingo cheese!

Q) Does the making of cheese bring harm to the lives of the animals being used to produce it?

Short answer: Yes — making cheese does harm animals, because dairy production depends on practices that cause physical and emotional suffering to cows and calves.

🧭 What “harm” means in cheese production

Across dairy systems — from industrial farms to traditional PDO cheese production — several practices consistently cause harm:

1. Cows must give birth to produce milk

Cheese requires milk, and milk requires pregnancy. This means cows are repeatedly impregnated, usually through artificial insemination. Calves are separated from their mothers shortly after birth, which causes acute distress to both.

2. Calves are harmed or killed as a by‑product

Male calves cannot produce milk. According to investigations, many are:

sent to veal farms,

transported long distances for slaughter, or

in some cases, left to starve on farms.

Female calves are kept to replace their mothers, continuing the cycle.

3. Many cheeses use rennet from slaughtered calves

Traditional cheeses such as Parmesan and Grana Padano require animal rennet, taken from the stomach lining of young calves. This directly links cheese production to calf slaughter.

4. Cows often live in poor conditions

Investigations into protected‑cheese farms in Italy’s Po Valley show:

cows kept indoors, often tethered,

emaciated animals,

standing in waste,

little or no access to pasture.

These conditions prevent natural behaviours and cause long‑term suffering.

5. Even “environmentally friendly” dairy still involves animal use

Some producers highlight sustainability or pasture‑based systems, but this does not remove the core harms:

forced pregnancies

calf separation

early slaughter

use of milk intended for calves. Environmental improvements do not eliminate animal suffering.

🌱 Are there cheeses that avoid harming animals?

There are three categories:

1. Vegetarian cheese (non‑animal rennet)

Uses microbial or plant rennet. Still harms cows, because it uses dairy milk. (it avoids calf‑stomach rennet but not the rest of the dairy system.)

2. “High‑welfare” dairy cheese

Pasture‑based or organic systems may reduce some harms, but:

calves are still separated

cows are still impregnated

animals are still slaughtered. So harm is reduced, not removed.

3. Vegan cheese

Made from cashew, coconut, almond, soy, oats, etc. No animals used, no animals harmed. This is the only category that avoids the harms described above.

🧩 Bottom line

"Pasteurized process American cheese food product slices" has to be one of the least appetizing strings of text on an object we're intended to eat, and the internet is rife with jokes about American cheese being as digestible as the plastic wrapper it comes in. So what's actually in the stuff? Time to go through the words!

"Pasteurized" means that the milk used in the cheese has been heated enough to kill off unwanted bacteria. Some cheeses are pasteurized, others aren't. And, in some cases, they legally can't, because then they wouldn't be that kind of cheese!

That category includes cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano, which must be made from raw milk. Have no fear, the parmesan-making process uses an alternative method of drying and aging to eliminate bacteria like e. coli and salmonella. It's stored in massive aging vaults (and in some cases, banks) for over a year.

But that wouldn't really work for American cheese, since you'd probably not like it to be dry and crumbly.

"Process" in the name refers to the actual process used to make it, and it's delineated here because it's a little unique compared to other cheeses. American cheese isn't just one cheese, it's a whole melting pot combination of cheddar, Colby, curd, or anything else that fits the flavor and texture they're going for.

And so if a cheese is made with a blend of cheeses, it has to be labeled "process". This also includes the other added ingredients that give it its unique plasticky texture, including milk proteins and emulsifying salts.

"American" should be pretty obvious, because it's from America, right? Hahah no the process was invented in Switzerland to make use of cheese scraps of various types, and then a certain James Kraft started producing it in bulk in the US.

"Cheese" is the word we'll just give up on for now, I'll get back to that.

"Food Product" is a real mess. It means the stuff has more added ingredients (outside of milk) than usually allowed, so it can't be called plain old cheese. It still has to be at least 51% cheese, but the rest is whatever: oil, water, etc. At least we're not having the problem American-made parmesan has with wood pulp?

In the lowest circles of cheesy hell are the "Pasteurized Processed Sandwich Slices". Notice a word missing there? The cheese has disappeared entirely! Some kinds of American cheese have diverged so far from the legally mandated amount of milk that you won't even find the word on the packaging.