common sense about listeria + artisanal cheeses

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Food safety and annual British Empire Awards part of cheesemaker convention

Belleville Ontario – The British Empire Cheese Competition, started way back in 1929, is still going strong.

In fact, increased interest led to two new artisan cheeses classes being added to this year's event.

The competition took place Dec. 4 in conjunction with the 81st annual Central Ontario Cheesemaker Association convention held at Belleville's Ramada Inn. More than

90 people from dairy and related industry attended, making it the biggest convention ever, said association secretary Gibbons.

Association president Wayne Breau of Saputo Foods in Trenton said the number of entries in the competition, and more notably in the specialty cheese classes, rose this year.

"We had 115 last year and 176 this year," Breau said. "That's about a 45 per cent increase in one year."

The cheeses donated to the competition are judged and then sold at the Bay View Mall during the week of the convention. All the proceeds from sales are put back into the organization for prize monies and trophies.

Breau said last year $6,100 in cheese was sold but this year a one-day record was set with $5,000 worth of cheese sold on Dec. 3.

"We actually had a lot of cheese," Breau said.

The conference featured several guests including speakers from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese. Chef Heinz Haas also led a hands-on fondue cooking demonstration.

Food safety was a theme with Bruce Keown of OMAFRA talking about listeria and Donnelly of the Vermont Institute speaking on raw milk cheeses.

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Keown, a food scientist with the ministry, said he had tried to gear his information to the industry as much as possible when explaining "what cheesemakers need to know" about Listeria monocytogenes, which has been "very much in the news lately." (Ivanhoe Cheese Inc. recently was forced to issue a product recall and shut down production for more than a month after listeria was discovered in its cutting room.)

Keown said one in five people could die from a very virulent strain of the bacteria, which, he said, is present in most dairy operations.

"Most dairy farms have a population of listeria and you have to find it and get rid of it."

When inspectors go into a plant and are told the bacteria has not been found in 10 years, the operation just hasn't found it yet, or is looking in the wrong place, he said.

Keown said the level of concern over the bacteria is somewhat product dependent and might also have to do to the size of the operation.

Listeria is an "interesting bacteria" that is resistant to heat, salt and acidity, he said. It's found in soil, water, raw milk and plant material and can develop as a film on equipment.

It can also be present in areas that might not be thoroughly sanitized on a regular basis and be transferred to items that come in contact with products.

Environmental testing in the plant and finished product testing were both advocated by Keown.

He said the key is the method used in the plant and it depends on the lab used for testing, which should be rigourous in achieving government standards. He also recommended sponging or swabbing large areas when testing and ensuring that samples are sent out in a timely manner.

Keown called environmental monitoring an early warning system, especially given the limits of finished product testing, which might not tell where the bacteria came from.

Finished product testing is a "sensitive" subject, Keown said, but its practice is "essential," based on his own involvement in the cheesemaking industry prior to joining the ministry.

"Without it how do you judge all programs in your plant are working?" Keown asked.

He said the frequency of finished product testing was also dependent on what products are being manufactured and in what volumes, and whether or not there is a history of Listeria monocytogenes being present.

"One thing I cannot stress enough is positive results require immediate corrective action," Keown said, adding those actions may include tearing down of a machine beyond regular cleaning, conducting more frequent sampling, and sampling the surrounding areas of the source. He said plants that do have positive test results confirming the presence of listeria might also want to increase the frequency of finished product testing.

Keown said cleaning records, environmental results for the surrounding area, downtime and maintenance records should be looked at. Evaluation of trends and data can help determine whether the bacteria is resident or transient to the affected area.

Keown ended his speech by reiterating the importance of working with a lab the cheese factory is comfortable with.

Donnelly said in her talk that the topic of raw milk cheese "engenders heated discussion."

She cited the example of a USFDA advisory in March 2006 about certain soft cheeses made from raw milk which was interpreted as impugning the entire cheese industry.

Donnelly used a number of statistics and scientific findings to support her belief that the problems with raw milk cheeses lie mainly in Mexican or South American "Hispanic"-style soft cheeses.

She also presented information showing that the high curd cooking temperature for certain types of raw milk cheese, including Swiss varieties and hard grating cheeses, compensate for the lack of pasteurization.

Donnelly said the Australian food safety agency has assessed hard Swiss varieties and extra-hard grating cheeses as having the same risk level as pasteurized cheese products due to the cooking process.

With soft and semi-soft raw milk cheeses, however, that risk assessment goes "way up."

She questioned current regulations in the U.S. and Canada that require raw cheeses be aged for 60 days at a temperature of not less than two degrees Celsius. Donnelly said that, with certain cheeses, 60 days is right around the time that listeria grows.

Donnelly advocated proper levels of safety be established in raw milk cheese production, including mandatory technical training, a mandatory risk reduction plan and pathogen testing.

The issue is relevant, Donnelly said, because the artisan cheese industry is expanding in North America.

In the four years that the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese has been operating, 750 artisan cheese makers have been trained from 43 states and six countries, including several from Ontario, she said.

Donnelly said the results of various scientific testing and monitoring reaffirm the microbiological safety of domestic and imported cheeses.

"Instead of impugning the entire cheese industry, why not go where the problems are?" Donnelly asked. "We've got great cheesemaking going on in North America. Let's continue to do it well and do it safely."

The presentation of the competition awards took place following the speakers and prior to the Winners Circle Festival at the Belleville Club.

Local companies winning multiple awards included Fifth Town Artisan Cheese of Picton, which collected six awards in the specialty cheese classes, including taking both first and third place in two classes.

Fifth Town also won a specialty award for the cheesemaker having the highest aggregate score in goat and sheep milk cheese classes.

Saputo Foods Limited of Trenton won four wards in specialty cheese classes and also won a special award for high scores.

ford's Empire Cheese and Butter Coop came out on top in the cheddar cheese classes, winning the grand champion award for highest scoring cheese on exhibition in the cheddar classes and the award for highest scoring cheddar in the small plant category of the competition. Empire won a first and second place in the cheddar classes.