Sir John Krebs’ assertion that cheese is an important part of a healthy diet should be music to the ears of the cheese industry, which fears that any traffic-light labelling system could vilify the product as an unhealthy food.
Sir John, Food Standards Agency chairman, was speaking at Reaseheath College in Cheshire on Monday to mark the success of a scheme to adapt a major hygiene control system for smaller cheese manufacturers.
Sir John also said that raw milk cheese had a special eating quality, a comment that will please traditional cheese manufacturers. Many fear their artisan methods are threatened by tightening hygiene rules.
Prince Charles, who is patron of the Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association (SCA), was at the celebration to gain an insight into food safety management by specialist cheesemakers.
As part of his visit, the prince tried his hand at traditional cheesemaking and sampled cheeses made from raw milk.
SCA secretary Clare Cheney said: “The event was a celebration of the Food Standards Agency’s support for the education of cheesemakers about the safe management of cheesemaking.”
Three years ago, the SCA and the FSA drew up plans to develop a distilled version of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point System (HACCP) for small cheesemakers. Many had complained that their businesses were too small to handle the paperwork associated with HACCP.
Food safety consultants and environmental health officers have visited more than 130 specialist cheesemakers across the country to put together a tailored HACCP workbook designed to meet the producers’ individual needs.
The scheme was funded by the FSA.
Richard Clarke