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What has eating meat got to do with cheese?

It's even worse than that. The makers aren't even sure what was in their product to begin with.

Zahn says the kokum butter shouldn’t be an issue anyway: The company has since replaced it with cocoa butter, which does have GRAS certification. Initially, he told the Post the cocoa butter version was what he submitted for the awards, but after this story was published he said he determined that it was in fact the kokum butter version. (According to Weiner, Climax submitted an ingredient list that included kokum.)

So it might have been labeled with having kokum butter, it might not. Who knows? Seems to depends what answer is needed at the time.

Also,

Climax, it turns out, wasn’t just a finalist — it was set to win the award, a fact that all parties are asked to keep confidential until the official ceremony in Portland, Ore., but was revealed in an email the foundation sent to Climax in January.

If I'm reading this correctly, out of all the contestants, only they knew they won. Makes it a further stretch that it was a dairy company that "out" them as they wouldn't have known that the vegan cheese won.

My guess for the change about GRAS was it most likely was assumed everyone would only submit GRAS items, and since someone broke that non-spoken rule then they had to make it a clarified rule. It is something you'd just assume everyone made sure their food was most or less FDA approved (which is a logical assumption).

The Washington Post article is much clearer about this whole issue (which is linked to in this badly written Boingbonk article.)

Kokum butter is edible and occasionally used to make chocolates and other confections.

You can really taste the feet.

A quick search: https://climax.bio/ and https://climax.bio/findus/

While we're at it, I need recommendations for decent Mozzarella, Parmesan, and Asiago with a melting point below 300F.

I make a lot of Focaccia stuffed with cheese and jalapenos, as well as pizza, but it would be nice to be able to serve a guilt free option to my more discerning guests.

I think you are referring to the DOP system? It certifies that a food with a certain name actually respects the history, quality, and tradition behind that name.

But you can always make up new names or use generic names. For example "blue cheese" is not protected under DOP, however Gorgonzola is. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgonzola

I have found their website https://climax.bio/, and they only advertize this product as blue cheese, not Gorgonzola.

However, unlike you have suggested, the DOP system is proposed and managed by the EU, not Italy. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_designation_of_origin and a more complete list of types of protected names: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indications_and_traditional_specialities_in_the_European_Union

Finally, the article states the rejection is because the lack of safety certificate, not related to geographical or traditional protection.

After initially being named a finalist, Climax Blue cheese was later disqualified by the Good Food Foundation, reportedly due to issues around one of the ingredients (kokum butter) not having GRAS certification. But Climax CEO Oliver Zahn accused the foundation of caving to pressure from the dairy cheese industry and changing the rules after the fact to disqualify his product.

"GRAS" stands for "generally regarded as safe" and is issued by the FDA https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredients-packaging/generally-recognized-safe-gras