Raw milk cheese blamed for making two dozen people ill
Two dozen people in Eastern Ontario became ill after eating unpasteurized cheese that a farmer was not legally allowed to distribute.
BY OTTAWA CITIZEN
Two dozen people in Eastern Ontario became ill after eating unpasteurized cheese that a farmer was not legally allowed to distribute.
According to the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, the cheese was made by a “mobile cheese maker,” hired by the dairy farmer to visit the farm with his factory on wheels. The cheese is made in a four-hour process.
In early June, the farmer, in St. Pascal-Baylon, 30 kilometres east of Ottawa, hired one of five travelling cheese makers who operate in Eastern Ontario. This product was later distributed — and sold — to neighbours, friends, relatives and classmates of a child of the farmer.
The unpasteurized cheese caused several cases of bacterial infection. Symptoms included diarrhea, stomach cramps, fevers and headaches.
Pasteurization is the boiling of raw milk to kill bacteria.
While the health unit strongly recommends the consumption of only pasteurized milk products, in Ontario, people who make unpasteurized cheese on their farms can possess and eat what they make. However, selling or distributing such cheese — which includes even giving it away — is illegal under provincial legislation.
In this case, no charges were laid against the farmer.
“He helped out with the investigation and was very co-operative,” said Caroline Kuate, food safety program co-ordinator at the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, which covers the counties of Russell, Prescott, Glengarry, Stormont and Dundas and the City of Cornwall.
“The remaining cheese was destroyed and we issued a warning. It was a first offence,” Ms. Kuate said.
The provincial restrictions on unpasteurized cheese are stricter than the federal regulations.
In 1996, following a federal panel’s recommendation, Health Canada made the decision not to prohibit distribution of the cheese — although raw milk itself has been illegal to distribute since 1991.
A Health Canada spokesman said Thursday the raw milk ban has been a clear public health success.
“We had hundreds of cases a year of bacterial infections from raw milk before 1991. Now, it’s about four a year,” said Paul Duchesne.
But unlike the milk itself, cheese made from raw milk — as far as Health Canada is concerned — is “allowed for sale and considered safe because the manufacturing process for cheese helps to eliminate many pathogens found in raw milk.”
The tricky part about the case of the St. Pascal-Baylon farmer is that while the farmer himself broke the law, the mobile cheese maker did not.
While the Eastern Ontario Health Unit has identified five mobile cheese-making operations, it can’t do much more than educate them about the risks and their responsibilities. “These operators are not within our jurisdiction. They are under no one’s jurisdiction. This is a case where they fall in the cracks,” said Ms. Kuate.
While small-scale cheese-making has been around for a long time, the use of the portable factories is a relatively new phenomenon.
That’s why the legislation didn’t take them into account.
“It’s an issue that’s localized in Eastern Ontario,” said Ms. Kuate.
She added that every year she sees “a couple” of instances in which cheese made from unpasteurized milk makes people sick. Yet she’s powerless to stop these unregulated operators.
But Robert Chartrand, a dairy farmer who said he is a neighbour of the farmer who produced the bad cheese, said there is no need to get excited about the small-scale production.
“I never got sick from my cheese,” said Mr. Chartrand, who has hired a mobile cheese maker twice a month for the past two years.
“She comes from Quebec. I’ve known her a long time, she’s qualified and she knows what she’s doing,” he said.
She’s also discreet, and Mr. Chartrand did not want to disclose her identity to a reporter.
Making the cheese from Mr. Chartrand’s raw milk takes about four hours.
“It comes out of a press, and we cut it. We could age it, but you need special fridges to do so, and I don’t have one of those,” he said. Every month, he has 120 kilograms of cheese, a very young cheddar, made for him.
Does his family eat that much cheese in a month?
“No, I give it to those who work at my farm. That’s how I pay them,” said Mr. Chartrand, who said he has the right to give unpasteurized cheese to his six hired hands, to his family and to his wife’s family.
“I’m 64, and when we were young, we used to drink milk right after the cows were milked,” said Mr. Chartrand, who noted that at the time the village had 54 farmers, all making their own cheese and butter.
According to the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, the cheese was made by a “mobile cheese maker,” hired by the dairy farmer to visit the farm with his factory on wheels. The cheese is made in a four-hour process.
In early June, the farmer, in St. Pascal-Baylon, 30 kilometres east of Ottawa, hired one of five travelling cheese makers who operate in Eastern Ontario. This product was later distributed — and sold — to neighbours, friends, relatives and classmates of a child of the farmer.
The unpasteurized cheese caused several cases of bacterial infection. Symptoms included diarrhea, stomach cramps, fevers and headaches.
Pasteurization is the boiling of raw milk to kill bacteria.
While the health unit strongly recommends the consumption of only pasteurized milk products, in Ontario, people who make unpasteurized cheese on their farms can possess and eat what they make. However, selling or distributing such cheese — which includes even giving it away — is illegal under provincial legislation.
In this case, no charges were laid against the farmer.
“He helped out with the investigation and was very co-operative,” said Caroline Kuate, food safety program co-ordinator at the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, which covers the counties of Russell, Prescott, Glengarry, Stormont and Dundas and the City of Cornwall.
“The remaining cheese was destroyed and we issued a warning. It was a first offence,” Ms. Kuate said.
The provincial restrictions on unpasteurized cheese are stricter than the federal regulations.
In 1996, following a federal panel’s recommendation, Health Canada made the decision not to prohibit distribution of the cheese — although raw milk itself has been illegal to distribute since 1991.
A Health Canada spokesman said Thursday the raw milk ban has been a clear public health success.
“We had hundreds of cases a year of bacterial infections from raw milk before 1991. Now, it’s about four a year,” said Paul Duchesne.
But unlike the milk itself, cheese made from raw milk — as far as Health Canada is concerned — is “allowed for sale and considered safe because the manufacturing process for cheese helps to eliminate many pathogens found in raw milk.”
The tricky part about the case of the St. Pascal-Baylon farmer is that while the farmer himself broke the law, the mobile cheese maker did not.
While the Eastern Ontario Health Unit has identified five mobile cheese-making operations, it can’t do much more than educate them about the risks and their responsibilities. “These operators are not within our jurisdiction. They are under no one’s jurisdiction. This is a case where they fall in the cracks,” said Ms. Kuate.
While small-scale cheese-making has been around for a long time, the use of the portable factories is a relatively new phenomenon.
That’s why the legislation didn’t take them into account.
“It’s an issue that’s localized in Eastern Ontario,” said Ms. Kuate.
She added that every year she sees “a couple” of instances in which cheese made from unpasteurized milk makes people sick. Yet she’s powerless to stop these unregulated operators.
But Robert Chartrand, a dairy farmer who said he is a neighbour of the farmer who produced the bad cheese, said there is no need to get excited about the small-scale production.
“I never got sick from my cheese,” said Mr. Chartrand, who has hired a mobile cheese maker twice a month for the past two years.
“She comes from Quebec. I’ve known her a long time, she’s qualified and she knows what she’s doing,” he said.
She’s also discreet, and Mr. Chartrand did not want to disclose her identity to a reporter.
Making the cheese from Mr. Chartrand’s raw milk takes about four hours.
“It comes out of a press, and we cut it. We could age it, but you need special fridges to do so, and I don’t have one of those,” he said. Every month, he has 120 kilograms of cheese, a very young cheddar, made for him.
Does his family eat that much cheese in a month?
“No, I give it to those who work at my farm. That’s how I pay them,” said Mr. Chartrand, who said he has the right to give unpasteurized cheese to his six hired hands, to his family and to his wife’s family.
“I’m 64, and when we were young, we used to drink milk right after the cows were milked,” said Mr. Chartrand, who noted that at the time the village had 54 farmers, all making their own cheese and butter.
Source: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=188f737c-e8d8-4c3c-bc46-e4ae891edb81&k=85545
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