Finally some news – or perhaps information – has emerged from Food Standards ANZ on the submissions last year on the review of raw milk processing standards. FANZ has distributed this pdf which I can’t seem to find on their website where it discusses raw milk products (but their again I have a short attention span if I can’t find something easily).
If you are new to this debate the standards in Australia are inconsistent and the current review is typical bureaucracy.
Thanks to lobbying by cheese dude Will Studd Roquefort, which at one point was banned, is now allowed to be imported. Those same standards that banned raw milk cheese it turned out would ban grana parmigiano so to avoid a revolt the standards were tweaked.
This tweaking created a loophole by which it can be prodiuced locally but the cheese establishment is against making raw milk cheese and I’m told behind the scenes is doing what it can to stop the Bruny Island Cheese Company put out it’s own raw milk cheese made under this rule.
At least that’s how I think it works.
The big worry about this document it that is smells rather highly of bias although it is really only a summary of the views submitted. It says: ” A petition submitted with over 330 signatures has been counted as one submission, however, the message in the petition has been taken into account in the analysis of the submissions.” hmmm.
So it appears all us enthusiasts who filled in the form are counted as one. Now I wish I’d sent my own opinion in to these not particularly amusing buggers.
The good news is that, according to the email I received: “There will be two more opportunities to provide comments on the Proposal when the Assessment Reports are released for public consultation.”
Perhaps we should learn from this and mobilise some other way rather than fill in a form.
As a last point thing I do agree with: “The expertise and affiliations of the members of the Standard Development Committee and Dairy Scientific Advisory Panel for the Proposal were queried and it was suggested that they do not adequately represent raw milk products industry and artisan cheese making.”
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
there are those Ed who believe that the main incentive for rennaisssance man & poster boy for the raw milk debate, will studd, is more concerned with IMPORTING the raw milk cheeses into this country, of which his portfolio is bulging with opportunity, than actually paving the way for a fledgling ozzie industry. This is a little at odds with the hand wringing, pensive message that the popular media have heralded, leaving us to understand that its just a small minded beaurocracy that is stopping a tide of local artisinal cheesmakers from flooding the market & curtailing our enjoyment of raw milk cheese.
Interestingly a long time compadre of will studd, from the Bruny Island Cheese co seems to be the only Australian cheesemaker given the rubber stamp to ‘trial’ ramaking a raw milk cheese.
Make of that what you will.
What Wayne said.
The main obstacle to raw milk cheese in Australia is the old Dairy indusrty. The industry as a whole is VERY ANTI raw milk cheese and goes out of its way to put it down at every opportunity. I sat next to the publicist/apologist for the Dairy board at a MLA gig last year and was attacked for even mentioning the possability of Raw Milk cheese. I also believe you are wrong to imply that Will Stud is not a massive supporter of domesticly produced unpasturised cheese. I know the opposite to be true.
“Interestingly a long time compadre of will studd, from the Bruny Island Cheese co seems to be the only Australian cheesemaker given the rubber stamp to ‘trial’ ramaking a raw milk cheese.
Make of that what you will.”
I think that he is trying to make raw milk cheese because he has spent a lot of time in Europe and knows just how good artisan raw-milk cheeses can be. It is not likely that the “powers” love Will enough to give Nick an easy ride.
Why wouldn’t other cheese importers have the same potential for profiting from the lifting of bans? I am sure Will has not cornered the whole raw milk cheese market.
As Neil said, he has been a long-term supporter/promoter of Australian cheese. His work has helped increase the volume and variety of cheeses produced and consumed in Australia.
Should I have written “… a MLA gig…” or “… an MLA gig…. “? I think “a” is gramatically correct but upon re-reading “an” sounds better.
Neil Prentice
I am hoping we get to purchase & make raw milk cheese sooner than later, I know of a few people that already do it in small batches but obviously are not able to sell it commercially.
Off topic, but has John Lethlean left the Australian?
Let’s not forget all those people in the raw milk and butter market too. There is a massive cultural cringe that European is always better. The local industry will never develop beyond the generic under current rules.
Steve, I hope youget you raw cheese.
As for Lethlean, he posted on his twitter stream the rumour that he’d quit although he didn’t say if it was true or not. The new supplement should be out soon.
http://www.twitter.com/lethlean
Yeah, but cant someone help with my grammar?
Neil
No, because I’ve drunk too much beer.
Hi Ed
Thanks for continuing to show interest on this subject.
I thought you might appreciate an update on the release of my raw milk C2. We have now been given full approval to commence commercial production of raw milk C2. This took place a few weeks ago and we have already put down a few batches which will be realeased after the legal minimum maturation period of 6 months.
However, during the trial phase almost 90 wheels were produced. The reason a trial phase is necessary (for any new cheese pasteurised or not) is to determine the production procedure, CCP’s (Critical Control Points) and full HACCP tables. This is all obviously to ensure commercial production is done to a set of measurable procedures in order to achieve a safe product. The TDIA were arware that this trial production was being carried out and I expressed my wish that, if these batches passed all micro and physical tests required, they be made available for commercial release. I pledged to test each batch for pathogens as an additional safe guard (which is well above the required fortnightly test required and also represents an incurred expense of about $500 per batch).
However, the TDIA have now decided that these trial batches, which were made prior to the full HACCP tables being developed, are not able to be released commercially. This is despite the fact they have returned clear micro results and fully satisfy the list of conditions of their manufacture. Therefore they pose no public health risk despite the TDIA citing this as their reason for rejecting my request for their release.
The TDIA, who it must be said, should be recognised for their supportive approach of my push for raw milk cheese in this country, are within their rights to refuse permission for the cheeses release on the grounds that it was made prior to safe production techniques being established and signed off on. Their rationale is that all trial batches made by larger producers are destroyed so why should artisan cheesemakers not follow the same procedure – the reason, I would have thought, was obvious. However, I reject the TDIA’s decision for three reasons:
1. The cheeses in question have been independently tested and proved to be safe for consumption. Bodies such as the TDIA exist to minimise the risk posed to consumers through the production and sale of unsafe foods. If they accept the results of the tests (which they do) then what is the risk to the consumers that is preventing them for allowing me to release these cheeses?
2. The TDIA were aware that trial batches were being produced and that they were being produced along the guidelines of our pasteurised version of C2 which has been in commercial prodcution for several years. The only difference, of course, was that the pasteurisation step was removed. The trial batches were made exactly according to the process and HACCP which they have now accepted and signed off on. This stands to reason as these processes were developed based on the trial production.
3. It was only last month that I was told these batches were unable to be released – after the matter was raised at a board meeting. It seems to me that if this was the TDIA’s long held view that i would have been made aware of it at the time I pledged to test each and every batch to determine there was no risk to public safety when these cheeses were made available to the public.
I am aware of the increased scrutiny the production of this cheese brings to the TDIA and myself and the importance of establishing a thorough Code of Practice for raw milk C2. It is why I have strived to work closely with the TDIA on this matter. I am also aware of the negative reaction to the TDIA’s involvement in raw milk cheese by their interstate counterparts and the pressure they must feel because of this.
I can only assume that, given there is no question of the negative risk to public safety that this cheeses poses, the TDIA is only concerned with the bureaucratic process being upheld and reducing their exposure to peer criticism for allowing a safe product to be released despite the fact that it was produced as part of a trial batch.
The financial impact on not being able to sell these cheeses is huge – their combined retail return would be in excess of $45,000 which for a producer of my size is more than decent kick in the guts – especially in the current economic climate. I was told that the TDIA took the financial impact on my business into account when making their decision which, although shows their understanding of my situation, strengthens my suspicion that their decision was not purely made on grounds of assessing the risk to the public’s safety.
I will be seeking further clarification on the TDIA’s reasoning from both the chairman of the TDIA and the Minister for Primary Industry in the hope that this decision could be reversed and the first legally recognised raw milk cheese in Australia for decades be able to be released to the public.
If it allowed to be released, it will be done so initially through our Cellar Door, Salamanaca Market stall and our nation-wide Cheese Club.
If not, the cheeses will continue to be deemed ‘personal consumption’ only. Lucky me!
I heard an interesting story the other day about an Australian cheese maker that makes a kick-ass gruyere style. This cheesemaker also imports matured unpasturised true Gruyere.
The story goes that the local cheesemaker is trying to encourage the bacterias that exist on the imported cheese onto his locally made (pasterised) versions, via the washing process and co-storage.
I assume that these imported bacteria would some how enhance the local cheese.
Its such a crazy world that we have to stoop to techniques such as these to enhance a product that could be so much better if made in the traditional way, that has been feeding and satisfying us for so long.
Jack
Dear Nick,
All power to you on your venture.
How do I join your cheese club?
Neil Prentice
Hi Nick – how would you go selling people a pretty little business card for a certain amount and “gift”/share with them a chunk of unpasteurised C2 for free ? Must be some way of recouping the investment. Needs some lateral thinkers to help find legal ways of doing something.
You could have “cheese parties/education sessions/tastings” for a fee and give people some cheese to take home? I have eaten French raw milk cheese that was brought into Oz for an “education session” for the “tutors” personal consumption and shared.
Jack – heard the same stories – seems sensible, easy way to populate a cellar with the right bugs.
Neil – check out
Hi Nick – how would you go selling people a pretty little business card for a certain amount and “gift”/share with them a chunk of unpasteurised C2 for free ? Must be some way of recouping the investment. Needs some lateral thinkers to help find legal ways of doing something.
You could have “cheese parties/education sessions/tastings” for a fee and give people some cheese to take home? I have eaten French raw milk cheese that was brought into Oz for an “education session” for the “tutors” personal consumption and shared.
Jack – heard the same stories – seems sensible, easy way to populate a cellar with the right bugs.
Neil – check out HERE
I hate computers some days http://www.brunyislandcheese.com.au/cheeseclub.php
Hi Thermo,
One of the best things about being an Australian is that there is always some fella trying to find a dodgy way of getting around the bureaucracy! It’s up there with avoiding paying tax and knowing enough about the current AFL season to string out a conversation with a cabbie as our solemn duty as a citizen!
But unfortunately Thermo those cunning folk behind closed doors are onto our devious ways and have written the legislation so that the cheese may not be “sold or distributed” in any way (and then it goes onto spell out exactly what those ways might be).
And also, I do not want to be a troublemaker. I want to do this in conjunction with the authorities as I feel that they need to own it as much as anyone. FSANZ and the TDIA are not the enemy here. The enemy is the culture of industrial food production which we have all allowed to take hold.
Bugger !
That is a lot of R&D money that you have given up for the greater good.
Hope others appreciate it.
Evan Kleiman recently podcast about raw milk cheese in the USA, particularly the issues around Listeria poisoning.
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf090321cheese_myths_umami_b
Unpasteurised cheeses are not illegal in the USA, only those aged less than 60 days are illegal. Interestingly the biggest listeria in cheese outbreak in the USA came from an industrial pasteurised cheese.
It’s a shame about the submission, but it is standard procedure unfortunately. You will see GetUp! encourages people to write their own letters for this very reason. Petitions and form letters contain the same points, therefore are easy to group together. A letter or email written from your own point of view, even if it has the same type of opinion, should have enough differences to make it difficult to group it with others.
There has been research done on the health benefits of the consumption of raw milk and raw milk products. The upshot would be that in our world of heat treated foodstuffs brought on by a fear of bacteria, industry has managed to also kill off the good bacteria that our gastrointestinal systems rely on for digestion.
In the same way there is a theory that the rising number of coeliacs may be due to commercial flours being milled under metal rollers that heat grain to the point where it also kills vital elements to our system. In studies, raw milk products are also turning up as a positive antidote to the many allergies now developed in young children.
I am hoping that we can at the very least, we can have a regulated raw milk industry in Australia, so I that needn’t have to enjoy it on the sly.