FDA May Destroy American Artisan Cheese Industry
The FDA's decision will not only harm American cheese makers, but may also bring a halt to the importation of artisan cheeses from abroad
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an executive decree banning the centuries old practice of aging cheese on wooden boards. One bureaucrat within the FDA, without surveying all of the scientific literature, and without public commentary, has rattled hundreds of small businesses across the United States. Consumers who eat any kind of aged cheese should prepare for a potentially catastrophic disruption in the market for artisan, non-processed cheese.
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Corporate cheese makers like Leprino and Kraft will be able to weather this regulatory storm --- they don't make cheese, they manufacture cheese, and as such they do not follow the centuries old artisan techniques. But for small businesses and artisan cheese makers, wood boards are in fact essential to the making of cheese. As cheese expert Gordon Edgar writes, "wood creates a beneficial environment for cheese. After all, what is cheese but a great achievement of the microbe community?" Edgar notes that wood is essential to the flavor of artisanal cheeses, it distinguishes it from the large manufactured cheeses:
