With all the recent problems plaguing the U.S. — 84 lab workers may have been exposed to anthrax, reported measles cases highest now since 1994, illegal aliens bringing scabies, tuberculosis, chicken pox, MRSA staph infections and who-knows-what-else across the border — the Food and Drug Administration has taken a bold step:
Yes, the FDA has taken aim at…cheese.
And decided to ban the wood boards that most cheese makers have always used.
Via Wall Street Journal: Cheese Whizzes — An artisanal uprising against the FDA
The people in Washington who believe cheese is a mortal danger to the public used to be limited to the nutritionists. Now they include the regulators at the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA’s problem is with the common practice of aging cheese on wooden boards, which is how humans have been making the stuff since cuisine advanced beyond hunting and gathering. In a January regulatory “clarification” letter, the low-level chief of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition’s Dairy and Egg Branch let it be known that for the first time that “wooden shelves or boards cannot be adequately cleaned and sanitized.” The new interpretation only recently leaked.
Banning the traditional board-aging approach would be the end of popular types of cheddar, gruyere and most artisan cheeses. Three of four cheesemakers in Vermont, Wisconsin and California age their products on wood, and a ban could force them to spend millions to retrofit their facilities or exit the business. By the way, over half of all imported cheeses are made using the practice too. Farewell, parmigiano….
Well, the cheese industry, as well as cheese-lovers, were not amused.
People took to Twitter with the hashtag #saveourcheese, while lawmakers from the main cheese-producing states – California, Vermont and Wisconsin – spoke out against this clear over-regulation.
And the FDA backed down, stating that the ban “may have appeared more definitive than it should have.”
Although, as the WSJ points out:
…such ex post facto “mishaps” withdrawn under duress are often a preview of forthcoming regulations….. One day, when you’re hoarding contraband Comte or peeling the plastic wrapper off an orange processed square that is the last legal cheese in America, you can thank the FDA.
But for now, score one for We the People.
And, hey Feds:
Smile, and Say Cheese 🙂
Metz’s “ruling” had holes in it to begin with. She extrapolated the worst based on finding listeria at one New York facility rather than acknowledge thousands of years of safety experience. She also claims “someone told me” it was already illegal to make cheese on wooden boards. She actually misinterpreted the FDA law on maintaining cleanliness of materials, 21 CFR 110.40(a), which made no mention of wooden boards at all. She did not understand the law and she was clueless about the economic impact of her interpretation.
Another example of an incompetent bureaucrat wielding too much power.
Charles de Gaulle said, “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese”. Thank goodness there’s still something we won’t let the government get away with.
I don’t know how much more of these clowns in government my blood pressure can take. On the other hand, maybe this is what they want, to give us all heart attacks and do away with those of us who are over 60 years old.
The FDA Should Not Have This Power.
From the web: wood + bacteria
“All wood cutting boards are naturally antibacterial and will actually neutralize 99.9% of bacteria left on the wood within 24 hours…”
If they get bored or embarrassed at doing nothing to justify their existence they might try banning wood shavings from the floor of Italian restaurants and sawdust from pubs.
(Nothing of any pragmatic value.)
Yes they are antibacterial, and in a perverse way I think that’s why FDA said they can’t be cleaned. If you could truly ‘clean’ wood, you would remove the antibacterial nature (a little like my grandmother scrapping all the teflon off the pan to clean it (Gramma May was a strong farm girl)).
There have been several listeria outbreaks in the last few years, some involving cheese. I think the FDA was reaching to ban something so it could say that it was addressing the listeria outbreaks. Another example of need the research behind the regulations to be public so we can see what connection, if any, is being made.
Even his most fanatical acolytes get upset when President B.O. gets his jollies trying to cut the cheese.
Something smells. Low level gubmint employees have way too much power.
“Something smells” — maybe the limburger cheese? 🙂
That too! 🙂
You’ve got it, Kitten. Just like those “low-level IRS agents” in Cincinnati!!
FDA = Farcical Democratic A-holes
FDA = Flatulent, Dim-witted, and Arrogant
FDA = Full-time Diabolical Adolescents
FDA = Frantic Dingbats Association
but most of all,
FDA = Fanatics Destroying America
I wonder if the FDA has swat teams and automatic weapons to enforce this ban. They come asking, “You got wood?”. What the hell is this BS?
Perhaps the genius masterminds don’t understand that we purposefully inoculate the milk with bacteria…. Its what makes, umm, CHEESE!