Rally in Raleigh Part II- Food Safety

I was registered into two food safety sessions at the American Cheese Society Conference and I wondered what would be different for retailing and handling cheese versus the things in the produce and coffee industries that I knew. I initially walked away frustrated and disappointed from the sessions. I thought that what was covered was basic and not new. I was frustrated by the “elementary” level of questions and was especially irritated by the lady who thought that it was “too much to ask” an entry level cheesemonger to be able to know and tell a health inspector the correct temperature that the cheese coolers needed to be (it’s 41 degrees, just like in the industries that I was accustomed to). In my experience, food safety is nothing to mess around with and it is NEVER too much to ask to have everyone who handles the product to know the basic considerations. We are all responsible for providing safe food. Ok, I am stepping down from my soap box now. She was set straight by the ACS panel and that is all that matters. 🙂

It wasn’t until after I toured the Caves of Faribault in Faribault, MN that I started to realize why the cheese industry seemed to be behind the eight ball on food safety. There, I saw wheels in affinage (a fancy, presumably French-derived word for cheese ripening) caves that could spend anywhere up to 120 days until they were ready for sale. And it wasn’t until my breakfast with Gary this Sunday that I put it all together. Gary’s background includes some time as a meat cutter in the grocery industry so we both had fresh food experience with food safety. I’ll explain it to you like I did to him.

In both the meat and produce industries, product is made to be fresh and spoilage is to be avoided. One of the main safety protocols for keeping things fresh revolves around keeping things at the coldest temperature without them freezing. Another rule is to get the meat or produce into the customer’s hands as soon as possible with a relatively short retail shelf life.

With cheese, there are some different considerations. For one thing, in the cheese world, shelf life is variable and what we called spoiling is known as ripening or affinage. Just this week I had a conversation with Paul Haskins from the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative. He explained to me that the Dante Sheepmilk Cheese that he gave me was a little older than they typically sell to market. In my former role as a Produce Manager, “old” would raise a definite red flag. In this case, however, I interpreted it (and he confirmed it) to mean that it was going to have a more pungent flavor and be “harder”, or closer to a Parmesan texture due to the moisture loss over time.

Speaking of moisture content… Some lower (under 39%) moisture content cheeses don’t need to be refrigerated at all. This includes Cheddar, Gruyere, Parmesan, and Romano. Here in Wisconsin, we fight to have our cheese curds warm for as long as possible without refrigerating them (24 hours is the current allowable time until they need to be refrigerated). This is when they taste the best and are their squeakiest.

So now I know why the cheese industry seemed behind the eight ball. I got the big, loud reminder that making cheese is an old fashioned way of preserving food. It is a living, breathing entity that doesn’t ever necessarily die. Plants/produce have what is called a permanent wilting point and decomposes and meat just rots and gets disgusting. Can you tell that I don’t have that meat background? I am sure they have a much cooler/politically correct word for that.

And just like I needed the big, loud reminder, health inspectors might also need to get educated and the cheesemakers and the American Cheese Society are working on that. Cheese has its own rules. It isn’t necessarily comparable to the other fresh food products. So now you know. And I do, too. And I completely appreciate the level of discussion that was had during my two food safety sessions at the American Cheese Society Conference.

Cheese Curds. These pesky devils defy *all* the rules! They can be out in ambient temperature for 24 hours before the health inspectors require refrigeration.