FDA clears up cheesemaking confusion

by Abby Bauer, Associate Editor
Hoard's Dairyman

A wave of concern spread like wildfire through the U.S. artisan cheese community last week as it appeared the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was putting a halt to the long-standing technique of aging certain cheeses on wooden shelves.
Storing cheese on wooden boards has been an integral part of the aging or ripening process for centuries, but fear that the practice was going to be prohibited stemmed from comments made by the FDA, stating that the wooden surfaces were unsanitary and posed a health risk.
However, uproar from cheesemakers and state officials across the nation prompted the FDA to release this statement to clarify their position on the topic:
“The FDA does not have a new policy banning the use of wooden shelves in cheesemaking, nor is there any FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) requirement in effect that addresses this issue. Moreover, the FDA has not taken any enforcement action based solely on the use of wooden shelves.
In the interest of public health, the FDA’s current regulations state that utensils and other surfaces that contact food must be “adequately cleanable” and properly maintained. Historically, the FDA has expressed concern about whether wood meets this requirement and has noted these concerns in inspectional findings. FDA is always open to evidence that shows that wood can be safely used for specific purposes, such as aging cheese.
The FDA will engage with the artisanal cheesemaking community to determine whether certain types of cheeses can safely be made by aging them on wooden shelving.”
In Wisconsin alone, the nation’s top cheese-producing state, a minimum of 20 million pounds of cheese rest on wooden boards, reported the Wisconsin State Journal. The state’s cheese producers are allowed to use wooden boards if they follow protocol approved by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Cheesemakers across the U.S. feared that a ban against the use of wooden shelves would not only impact domestic cheese production but would also limit what cheeses could be imported into the country, as they would be held to the FDA regulations as well.