Where does your cheese come from?

Your food choices really do say so much about you, how you view yourself, and how you view the world. It is not only what you choose to eat that matters but the origins of that food and how it got to you, as has been highlighted in a new study based on cheese.

The study was done in Austria so extending the findings outside of the European context is problematic but there are global lessons to be drawn nevertheless. The research focussed on raw milk cheeses since they are made from unpasteurised milk which makes for a higher risk of microbial contamination.

For the study the researcher ordered 108 different raw milk cheeses from 21 online retailers in seven European countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland). Upon testing the reseaerchers found that two cheeses, one from France and the other from the Netherlands contained Listeria monocytogenes. Additionally 32 products were found to contain the faecal bacteria E. coli suggesting poor hygiene during production.

This is not about being anti-cheese and it is not about being anti-raw cheese/milk, what it does reinforce is the value of knowing where your food comes from and inherent to that is that your food will be local in origin. As the researcher indicated, consumers need to choose products that are adequately cooled as if cheese is not cooled then bacteria will grow more quickly. It was further pointed out that a longer transport journey and improper packaging increase the risk for the product in terms of quality and health.

The way that you make decisions about the transport and hygiene of the food you eat is to know who is doing it and if you can’t be bothered knowing that then, well, that’s hard cheese for you.