FDA, Industry Square Off over Use of Wooden Boards in Artisanal Cheesemaking
Last week, after a letter from an U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official stating that the use of wooden shelves for cheese ripening "does not conform to cGMP requirements" went public, cheesemakers passionately defended the age-old practice. Then on June 11, the FDA clarified that it does not intend to ban wooden boards from being used in cheesemaking.
It is unclear why the firestorm was just ignited last week, given that in its clarification, the FDA noted that, "At issue is a January 2014 communication from the agency’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services, which was sent in response to questions from New York State." However, it is clear that what upset the artisan cheese community was the following paragraph from Metz's letter: