Posted on 06/11/2014 6:07:56 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Friday that it will not allow cheese makers use wooden boards to age their cheese - a ruling that would effectively wipe out artisanal cheeses.
The FDA's ruling came to light after several cheese makers in New York were cited - despite state laws that allow the use of wood boards.
"Reports showed that the porous structure of wood made it susceptible to the colonization of bacteria on the surface and inside the wood," Monica Metz, the branch chief for the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition's Dairy and Egg Branch, wrote in her analysis to the New York Department of Agriculture & Markets' Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services.
There's only one problem: Metz's analysis didn't include the entire findings of the research, AP reports. Research conducted by The University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Dairy Research shows "that while some wood can hide some bad bacteria, it can be eliminated as long as a thorough cleaning procedure is followed."
This is a "potentially devastating development" for cheese makers, said Chris Roelli, a Wisconsin cheese maker. It would put America "at a global disadvantage because the flavor produced by aging on wood cannot be duplicated. This is a major game changer for the dairy industry in Wisconsin, and many other states.
"We do not have a viable option available to us that will do the same things that the wood does to the cheese," Roelli said in an interview with CNSNews.com. "The wood provides a way of controlling moisture, wood provides flavor, and the wood provides a stable environment for the beneficial microbes to grow that allow the cheese rind to develop.
"Wood has been used in cheese making in Europe for thousands of years, from day one of cheese," Roelli said, calling it the "pillar" of his "niche business. If [the ban] goes through, it would severely hamper what we are doing at this point. 85% of the product I manufacture is made to be aged on wood. We don't have a plan B. We would have to start from square one again and reinvent our business."
Wood boards have been used to make cheese for over a thousand years - since the very beginning of cheese making.
New York and Wisconsin's State Agricultural boards allow their cheese makers to use wood.
So how does the FDA have the authority to do this? The FDA is citing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FMSA) signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. FMSA shifts focus "from responding to contamination to preventing it," the Cheese Underground reports. "While most cheese makers have, perhaps, begrudgingly accepted ... increased federal regulations and inspections, no one expected this giant regulation behemoth to virtually put a stop to innovation in the American artisanal cheese movement."
It appears that the FDA is concerned about the spread of Listeria, a harmful bacteria that is a concern in the dairy industry. However, the latest research has concluded that the use of wood for aging cheese is safe, so long as proper cleaning procedures are followed. A study in France found no evidence of pathogens on the board surface or within the wood.
"Considering the beneficial effects of wood boards on cheese ripening and rind formation, the use of wood boards does not seem to present any danger of contamination by pathogenic bacteria as long as a thorough cleaning procedure is followed," a paper from the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research concluded.
The American Cheese Society (ACS) released a statement today saying that it “strongly encourages FDA to revise its interpretation …and continue to permit properly maintained, cleaned, and sanitized wood as an aging surface in cheesemaking as has been, and is currently, enforced by state and federal regulators and inspectors.”
ACS says, “Many of the finest and most renowned cheeses from around the world are at risk of disappearing from the U.S. market if regulatory and enforcement changes under FSMA eliminate traditional materials and methods.”
30 million pounds of cheese are aged on wood in Wisconsin alone per year, calculates John Umhoefer, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. "So we are very concerned as an industry. This ban would have a big impact," he told CNSNews.com.
The Association wants to take the ban to the State legislatures and "make sure the issue is revisited with science, as opposed to just a memo from FDA," Umhoefer said.
There have been numerous "studies on wooden boards and their safety, and we're perplexed by the FDA's decision," he added. "We need to gather that science and put it before the FDA."
The FDA's ruling came to light after several cheese makers in New York were cited - despite state laws that allow the use of wood boards.
Yep. They have been making cheese in Europe the same way for the last 2000 years. Some small cheese makers are still using pots and equipment literally hundreds of years old. Not good enough for the FDA.
I hope there are a lot of artisnal cheese makers in Wisconsin and New York that voted demonrat enjoying their own personal schadenfreude.
FDA now deciding how cheese it to be made....
If it isn’t a sign of bloated bureaucratic government over-reach, then I don’t know what is.
Cheese-makers should tell the FDA to go screw themselves...
...then arm and prepare to defend themselves against the FDA SWAT-team raid that will surely come.
The end of artisanal cheeses? Lizzie “Granny” Warren needn’t worry. She can afford to buy the imported.
To hell with these unaccountable agencies. I hope the cheese-makers bar their doors and tell the agencies to screw.
First they came for the cheese makers, and I did nothing because I am not a cheese maker; then they came for ... .
Eff the FDA. They are just a bunch of fascists. In fact the whole fed government in now fascist. They have no respect for the Constitution.
This just makes people buy imported cheese.One more blow to the economy, the fascists seek to destroy the economy at every turn.No jobs for US. Everybody go on the dole!The socialization of America is NOW in progress.
No freedom for US either. Say bye to it.
Geez, now I’ll have to make my own cheese too. My sister makes homemade cheese so I think I need to learn how. Since I’m newly retired and have a farm, I think my garden is going to get bigger.
Behold the power of cheese!
They found that there was fungus in the blue cheese......................
All of these alphabet agencies wanting to control everything is getting way out of hand. They are led by playground bullies who obviously despise ingenuity and uniqueness, while at the same time they will impose their will with impunity, on anybody that crosses them.
That seems to be the trend of anybody on a gov’t payroll.
Wine hell! What about WHISKEY??????????????????????/ NO MORE JACK, Johnny, Jim or Turkey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wait until the nanny staters realize there is bacteria colonizing your stomach.
As an aside, this ruling has the Vermont artisan cheese makers going ballistic. I can only sit back and laugh because 90% of them voted for Odumbo. You get what you vote for.
Cows = global warming
Vegan is in
Ergo, dairy bad.
Don't the realize that's what gives the cheese that piquant flavor?
“susceptible to the colonization of bacteria on the surface and inside”
Isn’t that what cheese is?
Cheese has been made for literally thousands of years without government assistance.
Reagan was right. The worst thing you’ll ever hear is: I’m from the government and I’m here to help......................
I bought a book on it and have been studying on how to make it. My biggest difficulty is going to be a cool place to store it since I live in Tampa.
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