Love some cheese? Then perhaps you will be happy to hear that Australia and New Zealand may finally have some raw milk cheese.
Many artisan cheese makers received some good news on Saturday, January 30, when the health ministers of Australia and New Zealand have decided to allow them to create cheeses made from raw milk. For many years, concerned cheese groups had rallied behind raw milk because of its much better flavour.
Raw milk is a type of milk that is not pasteurized. Although it still needs to be processed to become cheese, the milk itself did not undergo any. It is a significant health concern for many since raw milk may contain harmful bacteria that can cause severe gastrointestinal reactions and other life-threatening diseases.
The new ruling therefore carries a caveat, which says that the milk should be free of any harmful bacteria before it can be used and that the susceptibility of bacteria should be eliminated upon processing.
Prior to the ruling, the agency known as Food Standards Australia New Zealand has first looked into pasteurization, a process where milk is heated in order to kill bacteria. They tried to determine where the process itself is unavoidable or truly necessary in making cheeses.
In order to produce cheese from raw milk, cheese makers usually had to import them to New Zealand or they had to be allowed by the government to create them, following rigid regulations.
Meanwhile, Tom Ross, a university professor working in Tasmania and in Ministry for Primary Industries for New Zealand, tested the safety of cheese from raw milk, even creating his own.
Based on his experiment, if the milk already had a very high level of harmful bacteria, it is more likely that the significant bacteria will remain even after processing. Simply put, it is essential the primary ingredient is free of bad microorganisms.