Lately, cheese has usurped the role traditionally played by fresh produce and ground beef as public enemy number 1 in the food safety battle. Maybe the level of contamination in both raw and pasteurized milk-based cheeses hasn't changed at all recently over historic levels, and the only difference is the high-profile nature of some of the recent cheese contamination events. And maybe the high-profile nature of these events is mostly a problem of the cheese-makers' own creation (the level of distrust and suspicion of the government's actions and motives has been more than a little ridiculous). (Exhibit 1, see Help Wanted: public relations position for raw dairies) (Exhibit 2 might be William Neuman's article yesterday in the New York Times on Estrella Family Creamery's listeria problem, entitled Small Cheesemaker Defies FDA Over Recall).
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Food Posion Journal.