Raw milk for hard cheeses, debate continues down under
requires that all cheeses sold in Australia must be made from milk
which has been pasteurised or had a similar heat treatment, so
confirmed the food safety body Food Standards Australia New Zealand
(FSANZ) this week. But concerns voiced by some sectors of the food
industry could lead to a review of the code.
The Food Standards Code in Australia and New Zealand requires that all cheeses sold in Australia must be made from milk which has been pasteurised or had a similar heat treatment, so confirmed the food safety body Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) this week. But concerns voiced by some sectors of the food industry could lead to a review of the code.
In December 2002, FSANZ approved an exemption to the heat treatment requirement for milk used to make very hard grating cheeses. The amendment to the Code, arrived at after a scientific evaluation, means that the importation of raw milk for very hard grating cheeses can continue and that the Code now allows the sale of these cheeses if produced domestically.
At the time, FSANZ considered that these cheeses could be made to an equivalent level of safety as similar cheeses made from pasteurised or thermised milk, providing that good hygienic and good manufacturing practices are followed.
However, due to the concerns expressed by dairy regulators and some sectors of industry about this amendment to the Code, FSANZ has undertaken to review the decision by December 2003.
In order to help shape the review process, a workshop was convened in Melbourne in February to enable industry, State and Territory regulators and FSANZ to share information and consider the issues of concern for regulators and industry.
A presentation by Martyn Kirk, co-ordinating epidemiologist for the OzFoodNet food-borne illness surveillance project in Australia, reported that no outbreaks of food-borne illness in Australia or overseas have been reported from the consumption of raw milk very hard grating cheeses.
FSANZ reports a mixed reaction to the very hard cheese exception with some industry sectors seeing the amendment as a positive step towards innovation for domestic producers, while others were cautious and urged that appropriate food safety systems be put in place in Australia to enable the safe domestic manufacture of these products. This latter message was echoed by the dairy regulators.
In addition, dairy regulators raised technical issues concerning cheese production processes, the scientific evaluation of raw milk very hard grating cheeses and the conclusions drawn by FSANZ. Assessing the impact and efficacy of processing variables on product safety was the subject of some discussion.
In order to address these issues it was agreed that FSANZ would hold a further technical workshop, provisionally in April 2003, to focus on technical matters related to the amendment to the Code.
Other points raised at the meeting in February include the appropriate food standard setting principles for decisions relating to raw milk very hard cheeses.
