It looks like the Food and Drug Administration is no longer a threat to the centuries-old practice of aging cheese on wood.
The FDA released a statement Wednesday night seems to put to rest any fears among cheese makers that using wooden boards in their ripening process will lead to citation from FDA inspectors.
“To be clear, we have not and are not prohibiting or banning the long-standing practice of using wood shelving in artisanal cheese. Nor does the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act require any such action,” the statement reads.
The statement is a clarification of an earlier media release. It addresses outrage among cheese makers and consumers that ignited when a letter from an FDA official deemed ripening cheese on wooden boards unsanitary.
The same letter said wooden shelves do not meet FDA requirements, because their porous nature can foster listeria bacteria, which can cause food poisoning.
Cheese makers feared a ban would irrevocably alter the cheese industry, making it impossible to import or make wood-aged cheese and costing them thousands of dollars in facility renovations to replace the wooden shelves with metal or plastic ones.
Consumers and makers alike lamented what they said would be a decrease in the quality of traditionally wood-cured cheeses.
The letter that sparked the concerns was sent from the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in response to questions from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services.
“The communication was not intended as an official policy statement, but was provided as background information on the use of wooden shelving for aging cheeses and as an analysis of related scientific publications,” the FDA statement reads.
“Further, we recognize that the language used in this communication may have appeared more definitive than it should have, in light of the agency’s actual practices on this issue.”
email: schristmann@buffnews.com
The FDA released a statement Wednesday night seems to put to rest any fears among cheese makers that using wooden boards in their ripening process will lead to citation from FDA inspectors.
“To be clear, we have not and are not prohibiting or banning the long-standing practice of using wood shelving in artisanal cheese. Nor does the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act require any such action,” the statement reads.
The statement is a clarification of an earlier media release. It addresses outrage among cheese makers and consumers that ignited when a letter from an FDA official deemed ripening cheese on wooden boards unsanitary.
The same letter said wooden shelves do not meet FDA requirements, because their porous nature can foster listeria bacteria, which can cause food poisoning.
Cheese makers feared a ban would irrevocably alter the cheese industry, making it impossible to import or make wood-aged cheese and costing them thousands of dollars in facility renovations to replace the wooden shelves with metal or plastic ones.
Consumers and makers alike lamented what they said would be a decrease in the quality of traditionally wood-cured cheeses.
The letter that sparked the concerns was sent from the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in response to questions from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services.
“The communication was not intended as an official policy statement, but was provided as background information on the use of wooden shelving for aging cheeses and as an analysis of related scientific publications,” the FDA statement reads.
“Further, we recognize that the language used in this communication may have appeared more definitive than it should have, in light of the agency’s actual practices on this issue.”
email: schristmann@buffnews.com