By Lachlan Forsyth
Cheese lovers will be able to enjoy more choice and possibly better flavours from next month.
Restrictions are to be removed on the importing, production and sale of unpasteurised cheeses.
Pasteurisation kills off nasties like listeria that can be found in cheese, but it also kills off the enzymes and bacteria that give it character.
Until now unpasteurised cheese has been unavailable because authorities were worried about health risks, but now the rules have been relaxed so that they can be imported, made and sold.
“It’s up to consumers to know what they’re eating, to know what’s in it. And they can choose then what sort of food they want to eat,” said Food Safety Minister, Kate Wilkinson.
And that will pander to the palates of cheese lovers everywhere.
But advocates say food safety rules will still make it hard for some cheeses to go on sale.
Martin Aspinwall of Canterbury Cheesemongers fears soft cheeses like stichelton, munster and proper French brie will still be deemed unsafe to import.
“In Europe they’ve made unpasteurised cheese for more than 1000 years and people aren’t dying. It is safe,” he says.
Expect to see the first local unpasteurised cheeses from boutique cheese-makers.
The new rules start in October and foodies are salivating already.
3 News