What is cheese? FDA wrestles with issue

[Guest guest]

What is cheese? FDA wrestles with issue

By LANCE GAY

Scripps News Service

February 08, 2006

WASHINGTON - It comes in various shades of yellow, it's hard and it's

derived from milk.

But is standard cheese manufactured from ultra-filtered milk really cheese?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has been wrangling over the

issue for six years, suggests it is, and the agency is proposing new food

rules recognizing that standardized cheese made from ultra-filtered milk

can be marketed as real cheese.

That's brought some of America's dairy farmers to the barricades,

insisting the FDA is opening the door to products that will cheapen some

of America's most cherished basic values: its cheeses.

The standards for making some 70 varieties of cheese, representing $32

billion a year in revenues, are at stake.

Opponents of the changes - including Hardin, publisher of the weekly

publication The Milkweed - contend that changing standards to allow

anything but pure dairy products into making cheese will drastically

undermine consumers' confidence in what they find on supermarket shelves.

They note there is already a backlash developing against processed foods -

the organic food movement, now a $15 billion-a-year industry.

" Changing the definition of milk will drastically change America's dairy

production as we know it, " argues Dave Frederickson, president of the

National Farmers Union representing 250,000 traditional dairy farmers.

But the food industry, supported by larger dairy farmers who are part of

the National Milk Producers Federation, is behind the proposed change in

FDA policy to permit the use of ultra-filtered milk in making cheese.

Ultra-filtered milk is milk that is forced through a membrane to remove

water and milk sugars. The food industry says this makes it easier and

cheaper to transport the product.

The International Dairy Foods Association insists the change is just a

technical matter and only adjusts government regulations written more than

30 years ago to meet changed industry practices.

" This is not about milk, " said Galen, a spokesman for the

group. " We don't think this is a big deal. "

The FDA acknowledges that it is feeling heat over the cheese issue. " We

know from the petitions we've received, this is a hot issue, " said FDA

spokesman Herndon.

But he said the agency has tentatively concluded there's nothing in the

composition of cheese made from ultra-filtered milk that is different from

cheese made with ordinary milk. " It's not going to change the identity

standards of cheese, " Herndon said.

Katy Ziegler, a government-relations representative for the National

Farmers Union, disagrees. She argues that trust would be undermined if

cheese manufacturers are permitted to use other products, or

ultra-filtered milk.

" This is a huge concern, " Ziegler said, contending consumer confidence in

milk could be undermined if the government tinkers with standards. " We've

spent billions of dollars raised from dairy producers to promote the real

seal. "

Ziegler said dairy farmers also are concerned that altering the rules will

open the door to a flood of cheap imported ultra-filtered milk, currently

manufactured only in the Southwestern United States. Although the FDA

rules would permit only wet ultra-filtered milk to be used in cheese,

dairy farmers are concerned it would open the door to eventual use of

dried ultra-filtered milk manufactured in New Zealand and Europe.

Food manufacturers say this is nonsense, and Galen noted that the industry

is only seeking to use the wet ultra-filtered milk, not the dried imported

stuff.

Galen said consumers won't notice any taste difference in cheeses if

ultra-filtered milk is used, rather than the fluid variety. The product is

already used in manufacturing so-called non-standard cheese - known in the

industry as " pizza cheese. "