Chicago Reader on FDA & Raw Milk Cheese

[rlibkind]

The Chicago Reader recently ran a two-part interview with Andy Hatch of Wisconsin's Uplands Cheese Co. discussing the uncertainty surrounding FDA enforcement and future policy on raw milk cheeses:

 

Part 1

Part 2

[djyee100]

Thanks for the links. This is the FDA's second hit on the artisanal cheese industry in as many months.

 

I was struck by the disconnect between the various FDA field officers and the Wash DC bureaucracy, and the uncertain environment the FDA is creating for American artisanal cheeses. I doubt the FDA would play around like this with the mega-producers of factory cheese. Meanwhile, my opinion of Monica Metz, the FDA branch chief in charge of cheesemaking, has gone down yet another notch. Ms Metz made her prior career with one of the world's largest cheese producers (rubber mozzarella is their specialty). One wonders about her outlook and willingness to harm the artisanal cheesemaking movement.

Edited August 25, 2014 by djyee100 (log)

[djyee100]

In an email newsletter dated today, food writer Janet Fletcher had this to say:

 

 

"So Long, Roquefort?"

 

Have you heard about all those people getting sick from eating Roquefort, raw-milk Morbier and raw-milk Tomme de Savoie? I haven’t either because it hasn’t happened. And the FDA is going to make sure that it doesn’t.
 
In fact, the agency’s tightened guidelines are making these French classics scarce at American cheese counters. Temporarily? Forever more? We can’t know. But several European creameries recently learned that their products are on Import Alert, meaning that the FDA considers the cheeses unfit for sale. You may still find some of these cheeses in shops because distributors had inventory, but we could be looking at a holiday season without Roquefort...
 
Few dispute the need for government oversight of food safety. There are a lot of bad actors out there. But the French eat far more Roquefort than we do—only Comté outsells it in France —and they are not getting sick from it. So why the stepped-up enforcement by the FDA?

 

As far as I know, there is a lack of evidence that crafted raw milk cheeses pose a significant health risk. Yet the FDA is cracking down on raw milk cheeses without sufficient scientific basis. They are putting up impossible barriers for American artisanal cheesemakers, and restricting imports as well. The beneficiary of these restrictions, if any, are the big factory cheesemakers. The FDA is conveniently reducing competition for them. People have to ask the FDA, "Why? What's the justification for these restrictions?"

 

Unfortunately I cannot print out more of Janet Fletcher's informative article, due to copyright infringement considerations. Also, I cannot find the newsletter on Janet's website. Otherwise, I would give you the link. Below is the link to her website, with info to subscribe to her newsletter. Janet Fletcher is  a cookbook author and instructor in cheese classes in the Bay Area.
http://janetfletcher.com/