Cheese & Milk In The Diet

NEW WORLD-WIDE GROUP FIGHTS TO PRESERVE RIGHT TO CHOOSE CHEESES MADE FROM UNPASTEURIZED MILKS

March 22,2000. The American Cheese Society and Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust have joined to assemble an international coalition that will fight to preserve the rights of individuals to choose cheeses made from unpasteurized milks.

ACS and Oldways announced that the name of this new coalition is the "International Coalition to Preserve the Right to Choose Your Cheese," which will be abbreviated to the "Cheese of Choice Coalition" (or "CCC").

In letters sent to individuals, groups, associations, organizations and cheese-lovers all over the world, ACS and Oldways invited them:

"To join with us in this Cheese of Choice Coalition, because only an international non-governmental organization (NGO) possesses the power to stand up to the international governmental organizations that want to prohibit production and sale of cheeses made from unpasteurized milks. We need a countervailing force to stop this creeping globalization from taking away our choice about what kinds of cheeses we want to eat."

The CCC endorses these three principles:

1. Support safe hygiene in cheese-making through procedures such as HACCP, which are established and monitored by national governments.

2.Encourage all efforts to promote artisanal, farmstead, traditional and other locally-made cheeses crafted by skilled cheesemakers.

3.Oppose all efforts to require mandatory pasteurization of milks used in cheese-making. Cheeses have been made from fresh unpasteurized milks for all of recorded human history, and there are no scientific reasons or health needs to compel the sacrifice of these cheeses on the altars of mass production and world wide standardization.

Adoption of these three principles assures that individuals will not lose their freedom to choose among cheese made with pasteurized milks or unpasteurized milks, and that both artisanal and industrial cheese producers can freely market their products so long as they adhere to procedures such as HACCP.

iGourmet.com has joined fine cheese shops and cheese lovers across the country in supporting the Cheese of Choice Coalition. To learn more about the Coalition and to pledge your support as a consumer, please email, write or fax:

THE FIGHT TO SAVE RAW MILK CHEESES

Cheese enthusiasts are alarmed by government threats to eliminate raw milk cheeses.

The Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing its policy that allows the use of unpasteurized milk to make cheese, in order to determine if the policy is adequate to protect public health. Mandatory pasteurization may be ordered as early as next year, when the FDA studies are completed. Small artisanal dairies that make raw milk cheeses in the U.S may have to close up shop or face considerable changes in the quality of their cheeses.Imports of raw milk cheeses from Europe may also be banned: Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano, French Roquefort, Swiss Gruyère, English farmhouse Cheddar and countless other cheeses may no longer be available on the American market.



Pasteurization is an easy way to increase the chances of producing a safe product, but to imply that it guarantees safety is to dumb down the message for the public. According to Professor Paul Kindstedt from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Vermont, pasteurization "simply reduces risk. A good argument can be made that safeguards other than pasteurization can be developed to achieve a comparable level of risk reduction. This approach has been taken by some European countries where there is a concerted effort to strike a workable balance between the public's right to the highest level of food safety and a deep cultural appreciation of raw milk cheeses."

As we know, most European countries are fiercely protective of their culinary patrimony and have a Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) for many of their cheeses, many of which have always been made with raw milk. The European Union has adapted an American sanitation procedure called HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) that stands as an alternative to pasteurization. We support this "two-track" approach.

Cheese has been made with raw milk for 3000 years. It sustained our ancestors and shaped our Western diet.

We believe that raw milk cheeses should not be made extinct because:

A. American consumers want the choice. Clearly, they demand and are entitled to safe products. Informed correctly, we, the American public, should be able to eat what we want, because the freedom of choice is ingrained in the very fabric of our beings.

B. There is a growing market in the U.S. for raw milk cheeses.In recent years, the increased sophistication of the American consumer has called for a larger variety of unique, distinctive, hand-crafted cheeses. This has prompted specialty food stores and farmer's markets throughout the country to expand their cheese offerings.

C. Raw milk cheeses belong in the high end of the specialty market, thus providing a high return to the farmer and making it viable to sustain agriculture on a small farm.

In forming the Cheese of Choice Coalition, the American Cheese Society and Oldways Preservations and Exchange Trust aim to unite organizations and individuals that will share information and resources and concentrate the power to stand up to the international governmental organizations that want to prohibit the production of raw milk cheeses.

RESOURCE SHEET

 
HISTORY OF PASTEURIZATION

In the mid 1800s, the French scientist Louis Pasteur studied the spoilage of wine and beer and developed a heat treatment that preserved these fluids without greatly altering their flavor. Research on using pasteurization in the cheesemaking process began in 1907 at the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. It was a joint effort between the USDA and the University of Winconsin, and although the primary goal was to improve quality, product safety was a concern.

During the Second World War, many cheesemakers were sent overseas to fight. Those who took their place were less experienced and had to meet the demands of the government to produce huge amounts of cheese to fuel the war effort.Quality and Safety were compromised. By 1949 pasteurization was applied to milk and dairy products across the country. A law was passed that required pasteurization in cheesemaking, unless the cheese was to age for 60 days under specified conditions.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

USDA oversees agricultural production, safety, and development domestically and globally of agricultural markets.

FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE

FSIS is the public health agency in the US Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged, as required by the Federal Inspection acts.

FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

FDA is part of Department of Health and Human Services. The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for seeing that the food we eat is safe and wholesome. Food and drugs for farm animals come under FDA scrutiny. FDA also ensures that all products are properly and truthfully labeled.

PASTEURIZED MILK

US Code of Federal Regulation specifies milk must be heated for 145° for 30 minutes or 161° for 15 seconds.

THERMALIZATION

As defined by the International Dairy Federation: A system of heat treatment carried out under continuous flowing conditions consisting of heating to 145-150° for 15-20 seconds and then cooling with the result that bacteria are destroyed but enzymes are unaffected.

INCIDENCE OF FOOD-BORNE ILLNESS IN USA

• Between 1948-1988, the US produced over 100 billion pounds of cheese. There were 6 foodborne illness outbreaks reported during that time.

• The highest cause of cheese borne illness outbreaks was post pasteurization or post production contamination.

• These outbreaks indicated that soft surface ripened cheeses were more susceptible than harder cheeses such as pecorino, reggiano, provolone, etc.

• Dairy products in general and cheese in particular have a remarkably good safety record.

EFFECTS OF PASTEURIZATION ON CHEESE MILK

• Lower flavor levels result from pasteurization, due to the elimination of 90% of all micro flora in the milk.

• Pasteurization retards the ripening of cheese.

• Cheesemakers could accept poor quality milk, knowing that the raw product would be pasteurized, thereby leading to production of poor quality cheese.

• Pasteurization results in increased consistency in the cheesemaking process and more uniform quality in the end product. This translates to a lowering of the flavor bar, eliminating the potential to produce a depth and complexity of flavor that can exist with unpasteurized milk.

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF UNPASTEURIZED MILK

The qualities listed below are lost or significantly diminished in the pasteurization process.

• Milk before pasteurization is rich in colloidal minerals and enzymes, which are necessary for the absorption and utilization of sugars and fats in the milk.

• These enzymes aid in the utilization of fats and sugars.

• When the milk is heated, it becomes precipitated with minerals that cannot be absorbed contributing to osteoporosis, sugars that cannot be digested and fats that are toxic.

• Unpasteurized milk has a cortisone-like factor in the cream, which is heat sensitive. This aids in combating allergies.

• Unpasteurized milk has the enzyme phosphataze that allows the body to absorb the calcium from the milk. This allows for the digestion of lactose.

• Unpasteurized milk has beneficial bacteria and lactic acids, which implant in the intestines and contribute to a balanced immune system.

• Raw milk has been used in effectively treating diabetes in the days before insulin.

• Raw milk has also been utilized in treating eczema and arthritis.

The source: