Let Them Eat Cheese \u2013 The European Approach<\/strong><\/p>\nEuropeans, not surprisingly, are much more laissez-faire about the issue. They have produced and eaten raw milk cheeses for hundreds of years. Many of their cheeses, including raw milk cheeses are nothing short of revered. The European approach appears to be to regulate commercial production reasonably, and not ban raw milk products all together. Surely some Europeans have become ill from time to time, and unquestionably some of the smaller European governments do not compile public-health records with the same vigor that we do, so yes, their statistics may not be accurate. Still, their approach seems logical. Recognizing that small artisan creameries don\u2019t want to make people ill any more than people want to be ill, the Europeans allow the creameries to function and help them produce safe products. It\u2019s better for the small creameries and better for the consumer.<\/p>\n
Where Do We Go From Here? How Can We Help?<\/strong><\/p>\nSeveral questions arise from this quagmire; some can be answered and some remain mysteries. One obvious question is whether, in fact it is possible in a farm environment to make raw milk cheese in European styles and still adhere to the FDA zero tolerance policy for Listeria, Salmonella and E coli.<\/p>\n
The answer is yes and no. All artisan creameries licensed to sell their products operate under strict, comprehensive health safety regulations that include constant testing for temperature controls, cleanliness and bacteria. The artisan cheesemakers with whom I spoke said compliance with zero tolerance for Listeria is important and possible, but it also is very expensive, as it requires hiring outside testing laboratories on a continuous basis and, in the case of older farms with creameries, restructuring and\/or rebuilding their buildings and aging caves to zero-tolerance conditions. As most artisan creameries are very small, family-owned businesses located on their family farms, the expense involved in complying with zero tolerance is prohibitive.<\/p>\n
Other naturally arising questions don\u2019t lend themselves to equivocal answers, as there simply does not appear to be information available with which to examine them.<\/p>\n
These include:<\/p>\n
\n- Why is the FDA spending so much time and money on this issue?<\/li>\n
- From where has the financial support come to legislate all-out bans in 26 states?<\/li>\n
- Why have large food retailers, celebrity chefs and the American Dairy Association been so silent about this issue?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I am not one who sees conspiracies behind every news report, but it is difficult not to wonder whether Kraft or other large producers haven\u2019t had something to do with this issue.<\/p>\n
We may never know, but perhaps we can, indeed, do something to help. Those of us lucky enough to live in states where artisan raw milk creameries still legally operate can continue to patronize them wherever they are selling their products. If pressure mounts for a ban in our state, we can speak up to our local legislators in support of the industry.<\/p>\n
\n- We can talk with the dairy managers at our local supermarkets, telling them how much we would love to see raw milk products more readily available.<\/li>\n
- We can write to our Congressional delegates, urging them to work with the FDA to reconsider their stance or at the very least, to assist raw milk creameries in their efforts to meet the zero-tolerance policy, rather than driving them out of business or simply allowing them to die.<\/li>\n
- Using the Internet we can encourage our acquaintances from all over the country to join us in our efforts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We can do all of these things. And maybe it will help. Although admittedly I am a \u201cfoodie,\u201d I, for one think that these extraordinary cheeses enrich our culinary environment. I also am a strong believer in the importance of small, local businesses. Artisan creameries like Estrella, Qullisascut, Rogue, Beecher\u2019s and others are \u201cFirst In Class\u201d in this category. We should fight hard to keep it that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kelli Estrella is a cheese rock star. Her small company, Estrella Family Creamery located off the grid in tiny Montesano, WA has garnered numerous national and even international awards since its inception ten years ago. The Estrella Creamery is not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[21,104,28,105,436],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4605"}],"version-history":[{"count":59,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9942,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605\/revisions\/9942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}