Real Deal or No Deal? A Comparative Analysis of Raw Milk Cheese Regulation in Australia and France
Main Article Content
Abstract
Australia’s regulatory framework has resulted in the standardisation of cheese production based on pasteurisation. Up until early 2015, regulations effectively prohibited raw milk cheese-making in Australia and thus stifled artisanal on-farm production. Although the introduction of Food Standards Australia New Zealand Standard 4.2.4 has allowed the production of certain hard, low-moisture raw milk cheeses, the new standard is rigid and does not encourage new entrants into the emerging raw milk cheese consumer market. This article compares the Australian system with the French raw milk cheese regulation and production system, and argues that its approach in encouraging and supporting small farmhouse artisanal traditional raw milk cheese is beneficial to both producer and consumer, and has not resulted in any significant health risks. The Australian approach amounts to a missed opportunity to encourage the emergence of a value-added industry with local and export potential, and is at odds with important movements in food policy, such as recognition of the value of localism and terroir.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who submit articles to this journal from 31st March 2014 for publication, agree to the following terms:
a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share and adapt the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Open Access Citation Advantage Service). Where authors include such a work in an institutional repository or on their website (ie. a copy of a work which has been published in a UTS ePRESS journal, or a pre-print or post-print version of that work), we request that they include a statement that acknowledges the UTS ePRESS publication including the name of the journal, the volume number and a web-link to the journal item.
d) Authors should be aware that the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License permits readers to share (copy and redistribute the work in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the work) for any purpose, even commercially, provided they also give appropriate credit to the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. They may do these things in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests you or your publisher endorses their use.
For Issue: "Occasional Papers" and before, the following copyright applied:
Authors, upon submission, communicate their acceptance of the following conditions:
The work, upon publication, becomes the property of the International Journal of Rural Law and Policy.
Upon publication, the work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial_No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions for subsequent publication/reprint and/or derivative works must be obtained from the Editors of the Journal of Rural Law and Policy
References
Almli, Valérie Lengard et al, 'Consumers' Acceptance of Innovations in Traditional Cheese: A Comparative Study in France and Norway' (2011) 57(1) Appetite 110, 115: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2011.04.009
Bassi, Daniella, Edoardo Puglisi and Pier Cocconcelli, 'Understanding the Bacterial Communities of Hard Cheese with Blowing Defect' (2015) 52 Food Microbiology 106: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2015.07.004
Berrard, Laurence and Marie-Christine Montel, 'La Gerle: Le Vivant Invisible Entre Traditions et Norms d'Hygiene', in Bernadette Lizet and Jacqueline Milliet (eds), Animal Certifié Conforme: Déchiffrer nos Relations avec le Vivant (Dunod, 2012)
Bertassi, Frederic, Safety of Milk and Dairy Products in France (2015), Animaweb
Cahen, Maurielle, Obligations de Moyens et Obligations de Resultat (2014)
Chazan, David, 'French Traditionalists Praise Warning from Prince Charles that Artisanal Cheese could Disappear' The Telegraph (online) 6 December 2015
CNIEL, Answer from the French Dairy Sector to the Call for Submissions FSANZ Proposal 1022 (2014) FSANZ, 3-6
D'Amico, D J, E Groves and C W Donnelly, 'Low Incidence of Foodborne Pathogens of Concern in Raw Milk Utilized for Farmstead Cheese Production' (2008) 71(8) Journal of Food Protection 1580, 1589: https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-10-533
D'Armico, Dennis and Donnelly, C W, 'Microbiological Quality of Raw Milk Used for Small-Scale Artisan Cheese Production in Vermont: Effect of Farm Characteristics and Practices' (2010) 93(1) Journal of Dairy Science 134: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2009-2426
Dairy Australia, Dairy in South West Victoria (2016) West Vic Dairy
Decree of 27 April 2007 Amending the Decree of 8 June 2006 Relatif à L'agrément (Fr)
Decree of 7 November 2012, Minster of Agriculture, Agrofood and Forestry 'Relatif aux Regles Sanitaires Applicables aux Produits Laitiers Presentant des Caracteristiques Traditionelles' (in relation to hygiene requirements for dairy products with traditional characteristics')
Decree of 8 June 2006, JORF 08/08/2006 (Fr)
Erick Casalta, et al, 'Diversity and Dynamics of the Microbial Community During the Manufacture of Calenzana, an Artisanal Corsican Cheese' (2009) 133(3) International Journal of Food Microbiology 243: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2009.05.022
EU, Audit de la méthodologie de programmation des contrôles officiels en fonction d'une hiérarchisation des risques dans le domaine de la sécurité sanitaire des aliments (2015) CGAAER
EUR-LEX, Directive 2004/41/CE DU Parlement Europeen et du Conseil DU 21 Avril 2004 (2004)
European Regulation n° 2074/2005
Feutry, Torre, Garcia Arana and Caslta Desmasures, 'Lactococcus Lactis Strains from Raw Ewe's Milk Samples from the PDO Ossau-Iraty Cheese Area: Levels, Genotypic and Technological Diversity' (2012) 92 (6) Dairy Science and Technology 655, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13594-012-0084-3
FSANZ, Supporting document 1: Guide to the Requirements for Raw Milk Cheese in Standard 4.2.4 – Primary Production and Processing Standard for Dairy Products (at Approval): Proposal P1022 Primary Production and Processing Requirements for Raw Milk Cheese (2014) FSANZ
FSANZ, Proposal P1022 – Primary Production and Processing Requirements for Raw Milk Products (2014) FSANZ
Griffiths, M, Improving the Safety and Quality of Milk: Milk Production and Processing (Woodhead Publishing, 2010) 31: https://doi.org/10.1533/9781845699437 and https://doi.org/10.1533/9781845699420
Guillier, L et al, 'Modelling the Competitive Growth Between Listeria Monocytogenes and Biofilm Microflora of Smear Cheese Wooden Shelves' (2008) 128(1) International Journal of Food Microbiology 71: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2008.06.028
Ilbery, Brian and Knefsey, Moya, 'Registering Regional Speciality Food and Drink Products in the United Kingdom: The case of PDOs and PGls' (2000) 32(3) Area 317
Institut de l'Elevage, Guide Européen de Bonnes Pratiques en Transformation Laitière Fermière et Artisanale (2015) Idele.fr
Julien, Marie-Claude et al, 'Sources of Clostridia in Raw Milk on Farms' (2008) 82(12) AEM 6348: https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00913-08
Kessler, Brad, Goat Aong: A Seasonal Life: A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese (Scribner, 2010) 10
L Settanni et al, 'Persistence of Wild Streptococcus Thermophilus Strains on Wooden Vat and During the Manufacture of a Traditional Caciocavallo Type Cheese' (2012) 155 International Journal of Food Microbiology 73: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2012.01.022
Lavoie, Karine, et al, 'Characterization of the Fungal Microflora in Raw Milk and Specialty Cheeses of the Province of Quebec' (2012) 92(5) Dairy Science Technology 455: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13594-011-0051-4
Licitra, Giuseppe, 'Worldwide Traditional Cheeses: Banned for Business?' (2010) 90 (4) Dairy Science Technology 357: https://doi.org/10.1051/dst/2010016
Little, C L, et al, 'Microbiological Quality of Retail Cheeses made from Raw, Thermized or Pasteurized Milk in the UK.' (2007) 25 Food Microbiology 304: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2007.10.007
Maison Du Lait, 50 Facts About the French Dairy Industry (2016) CNIEL
Maison Du Lait, France: The Perfect Example of a Cheese Making Country! (2016) CNIEL
Marcellino, N, et al, 'Diversity of Geotrichum Candidum Strains Isolated from Traditional Cheesemaking Fabrications in France' (2001) 67 (10) Applied and Environmental Microbiology 4752: https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.67.10.4752-4759.2001
Mariani, C et al, 'Biofilm Ecology of wooden Shelves used in Ripening the French Raw Milk Smear Cheese Reblochon de Savoie' (2007) 90(4) Journal of Dairy Science 1653: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2006-190
Masion Du Lait, The Dairy Economy in Figures (2013) CNIEL, 2
Mcauley, Catherine M, et al, 'Prevalence and Characterization of Foodborne Pathogens from Australian Dairy Farm Environments' (2014) 97 Journal of Dairy Science 7402, 7403: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2014-8735
Montel, Marie-Christine et al, 'Traditional Cheeses: Rich and Diverse Microbiota with Associated Benefits' (2014) 177 International Journal of Food Microbiology 136: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2014.02.019
Murdoch, Jonathan and Miele, Mara, 'A New Aesthetic of Food?: Relational Reflexivity in the 'Alternative' Food Movement' in Harvey Mark, Andrew McMeekin and Alan Warde (eds) Qualities of Food (Manchester University Press, 2004) 156
Newman, Bryan, Comte AOP (AOC), The Premiere Cheese of France (2013) Behind the French Menu
Note d'Information, Stratégie des contrôles DDPP pour 2011-2015 (2015) FNEC
Note de Service (NS) of 19/02/08) (Fr)
Note de Service DGAL, Dossier Type d'Agrément pour les Ateliers Laitiers Fermiers se Livrant à la Préparation de Lait ou de Produits Laitiers (7 April 2014) Agriculture France
Paxson, Heather, The Life of Cheese (University of California Press, 2012) 188
Price, Claire E, et al, 'From Meadows to Milk to Mucosa: Adaptation of Streptococcus and Lactococcus Species to their Nutritional Environments' (2012) Microbiology Reviews 949: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6976.2011.00323.x
Ravishankar, Rai V, and A Bai Jamuna, Beneficial Microbes in Fermented and Functional Foods (CRC Press, 2015) 17
Regulation (EC) 852/2004 of 29 April 2004, the hygiene of foodstuffs
Regulation (EC) 853/2004 of 29 April 2004
Sage, Colin, '"Bending Science to Match their Convictions': Hygienist Conceptions of Food Safety as a Challenge to Alternative Food Enterprises in Ireland' ((Critical Public Geographies Working Paper) UCC, 2077
Seiler, H and Busse, M, 'The Yeasts of Cheese Brines' (1990) 11 International Journal of Food Microbiology. 289: https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-1605(90)90022-W
Shaw, Ian, Is it Safe to Eat? Enjoy Eating and Minimize Food Risks (Springer, 2005)
Steward, Emily, 'Dairy Farmers Lead Renewed Push to Legalise Raw Milk', ABC (online), 28 March 2016
Terracina Hartman, Carol et al, The Benefits and Risks to the Producer and Consumer of Cheese Made from Taw (Unpasteurized) Milk 2011) Cheese Society
Tonkin, Brooke, Cheese Manufacturing in Australia (2016) Ibis World
Townsend, Jo, 'Raw Milk Debate', The 7:30 Report (Online), 21 April 2010
Trubek, Amy, ''Tasting Problems and Errors of Perception' in Carolyn Korsmeyer, The Taste Culture Reader Experiencing Food and Drink (Berg Publishers, 2010) 272
van Caenegem, William, Peter Drahos and Jen Cleary, 'Provenance of Australian Food Products: Is There a Place for Geographical Indications?', RIRDC (2015),
van Caenegem, William, Peter Drahos and Jennifer Cleary, Australia's Regions and Agriculture: Can Geographical Indications Help? (2015) Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
van Rijswijk, Wendy and Frewer, Lynn J, 'Consumer Needs and Requirements for Food and Ingredient Traceability Information' (2012) 36(3) International Journal of Consumer Studies 282, 288: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2011.01001.x
VMS, Arrêté du 7 Novembre 2012 Relatif aux Règles Sanitaires Applicables aux Produits Laitiers Présentant des Caractéristiques Traditionnelles (NOR: AGRG1237700A) (7 November 2012) Domaine De La Securite Sanitaire Des Aliments
Yoon, Yohan, Lee, Soomin and Choi, Kyoung-Hee, 'Microbial Benefits and Risks of Raw Milk Cheese' (2016) 63 Food Control 201, 210: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2015.11.013