Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS OCTOBER 2015 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 1 2 Call for Data Continued from PAGE 1 involved, including Campylobacter species, Salmonella species, E. coli, Brucella species and Shigella species. Three of them were caused by Listeria. That suggests that the contami- nation more likely came from the dairy envi- ronment than from the humans who handled the milk, who'd have been more likely to pass along viruses than bacteria. The FDA notes in its call for data that cheeses made from unpasteurized milk are required by federal regulations to be aged, typically for 60 days or more. This was pre- sumed to reduce the risk that disease-caus- ing bacteria would still be alive in the cheese when it was eaten, but recent re- search has shown that the 60-day aging pe- riod for soft ripened cheeses might actually increase the risk that the cheese will cause listeriosis, the infection caused by Listeria, by giving more time for the bacteria to mul- tiply. It is not legal in the United States to sell soft ripened cheeses made from unpas- teurized milk outside the state in which they were made, but such cheeses can be made and sold in states that permit sales of unpasteurized dairy products. Dr. Catherine Donnelly, a Professor of Nu- trition and Food Sciences at the University of Vermont, is among those who agrees that the FDA should take another look at whether the 60-day aging period for raw milk cheeses does more harm than good in the case of soft ripened cheeses. "The 60-day aging rule should not be applied to a soft-ripened cheese," she said. The rule makes sense in the case of hard cheeses made from raw milk, she said. "As cheese ages, the pH goes down and the moisture declines, and you're creating that inhospitable environment [for harmful bacteria]." But in the case of soft cheeses such as a brie or Camembert, the surface molds that are essential to creating the cheeses pro- duce amine products that raise the pH of the cheese, creating an environment in which bacteria can thrive, she said. "Mature ripened Camembert has a pH about 7 [which is neu- tral]. As the pH goes up, you start getting conditions that allow the growth of Listeria. That's why in cheeses like brie and Camem- bert, you get very high levels. The FDA should never have applied the 60-day aging rule to a soft-ripened cheese, but it's part of our Code of Federal Regulations. That's not a very good rule from a safety standpoint." The good news for cheesemakers, however, is that FDA's soft cheese risk assessment shows that if every batch of raw milk soft ripened cheese is tested for Listeria, the risk is actually lower than that for soft ripened cheese made from pasteurized milk. Donnelly also points out that Food Standards Australia New Zealand conducted a 2009 Risk Assessment of raw milk cheese, which concluded that "Campy- lobacter spp. [species] were found to be a neg- ligible risk in both raw milk extra hard and Swiss-type cheeses. The presence of Campy- lobacter spp. was not assessed in raw milk Cheddar, blue, feta or Camembert cheeses. However, Campylobacter spp. are unlikely to grow in milk or cheese, as their growth re- quires reduced oxygen tension and tempera- tures between 32 – 45°C and they do not survive well under slightly acidic conditions, or in the presence of greater than 2 percent salt." There's little question that soft cheeses made from raw milk are potentially more dangerous than hard cheeses made from raw milk. Studies indicate that the risk of ill- nesses may be orders of magnitude higher for unpasteurized dairy products than for those that have been pasteurized. "In France, you can't legally sell Camembert beyond 55 days. Why? Because it's too dangerous," Donnelly said. She's concerned that the FDA might now decide that no cheeses should be made from raw milk even though the harder cheeses are much safer. "I've studied Listeria for a long, long time. I share the concern about the growing incidence of Listeria in elderly and susceptible population. Soft cheese is just one category of products that the FDA has determined to be a risk," she said. "I am just concerned that this might carry over to other varieties of cheese made from raw milk that have been shown to be very microbiologically safe – things like the harder cheeses made from raw milk." She points to a 2014 study conducted by scientists affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that distin- guishes the types of cheeses involved in 90 outbreaks caused by cheese between 1998 and 2011.While 38 of the outbreaks (42 percent) were caused by cheese made from unpasteurized milk, 44 (49 percent) were caused by cheese made from pasteurized milk. Queso fresco was the most common cause of the outbreaks, including 18 due to cheese made from unpasteurized milk and one due to pasteurized cheese. An addi- tional seven outbreaks reported an unspec- ified type of soft Mexican-style cheese. "Homemade" cheese was the second most common type reported for the outbreaks due to raw milk cheeses. The soft unaged cheeses imported from Mexico were responsible for 13 outbreaks – more than a third of all outbreaks associ- ated with cheese during the period. Nine of those were caused by Listeria. In five out- breaks, all due to cheeses made from un- pasteurized milk, the cheese was produced or sold illegally. Commercial importation from Mexico of cheese made from unpas- teurized milk is illegal unless the cheese has met FDA aging standards, although travelers are allowed to bring in limited amounts of raw milk cheeses for personal use. However, these raw milk cheeses im- ported for personal use are often illegally sold once they're in the United States. The 2014 study concluded that "In addi- tion to using pasteurized milk, soft-cheese- making facilities need to ensure strict sanitation and microbiologic monitoring. Labeling of cheese should include whether the milk used to make it was pasteurized or unpasteurized, whether the cheese was aged and for how long, and the license number of the production facility." The re- port adds that, "Efforts to reduce produc- tion and sale of illegally manufactured cheeses as well as continued binational col- laborations are needed to address the issue of illegal cheese importation." "This is where the real risk lies" stated Donnelly. GN

• Cover