Normally, cheese is under a rabbinical ruling (gezera) to require supervision, and it would not be sufficient to just know that there’s no non-kosher ingredients. Over twenty years ago, my father permitted many types of cheeses to be similar to yogurt and sour cream, and not to require supervision during the processing by an observant Jew.   

The OU has a similar heter from that same timeframe based on a teshuva from Rav Herschel Schachter.  That teshuva actually triggered our research and led to this decision. 

My fathers heter is based on the fact that the gezera was made for the types of cheeses that normally require animal renet. Even if you don’t use animal renet, you still need supervision. 

The cheeses on our list are specific cheeses that do not require animal renet, on the contrary, most companies do not use animal renet in these cheeses.  

Over the years we allowed most of these cheeses.  Recently, I spent a lot of time researching cheeses and developed a list of around 300 cheese products that would be approved under my father’s heter.  That was the start of this new year-round list. And then we added lots of other goodies. 

Hope you all enjoy.