Five Scottish companies have launched a fundraising campaign for legal fees to challenge new inspection and enforcement guidance, including food safety measures, regarding raw milk cheese.
The guidance will effectively make production in Scotland unviable, according to the cheesemakers who specialise raw milk cheese.
It is focused on controlling microbiological risks in the production of artisan cheeses made from raw, unpasteurized milk such as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) including E. coli O157 and applies to all sites producing cheese made from unpasteurized milk from cows, goats, sheep and buffalo.
The document was produced by a working group of the Scottish Food Enforcement Liaison Committee (SFELC) and is to be used during inspection and enforcement of food safety controls by cheesemakers making product from unpasteurised milk.
Selina Cairns from Errington Cheese told Food Safety News that to satisfy the cheesemakers the guidance needs to be removed or re-written in consultation with industry and individual cheesemakers.
FoodWorld 