Without Government...Update- FDA Backs Down On Cheese

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

So the way I read this, cheeses being aged on wood now will have to be discarded. And cheeses aged on wood from abroad cannot be imported. So, we will be relegated to government cheese?

cheeseunderground.blogspot.com/2014/06/game-changer-fda-rules-no-wooden-boards.html

A sense of disbelief and distress is quickly rippling through the U.S. artisan cheese community, as the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week announced it will not permit American cheesemakers to age cheese on wooden boards.

Recently, the FDA inspected several New York state cheesemakers and cited them for using wooden surfaces to age their cheeses. The New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets' Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services, which (like most every state in the U.S., including Wisconsin), has allowed this practice, reached out to FDA for clarification on the issue. A response was provided by Monica Metz, Branch Chief of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition's (CFSAN) Dairy and Egg Branch.

In the response, Metz stated that the use of wood for cheese ripening or aging is considered an unsanitary practice by FDA, and a violation of FDA's current Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations. Here's an excerpt:

"Microbial pathogens can be controlled if food facilities engage in good manufacturing practice. Proper cleaning and sanitation of equipment and facilities are absolutely necessary to ensure that pathogens do not find niches to reside and proliferate. Adequate cleaning and sanitation procedures are particularly important in facilities where persistent strains of pathogenic microorganisms like Listeria monocytogenes could be found. The use of wooden shelves, rough or otherwise, for cheese ripening does not conform to cGMP requirements, which require that "all plant equipment and utensils shall be so designed and of such material and workmanship as to be adequately cleanable, and shall be properly maintained." 21 CFR 110.40(a). Wooden shelves or boards cannot be adequately cleaned and sanitized. The porous structure of wood enables it to absorb and retain bacteria, therefore bacteria generally colonize not only the surface but also the inside layers of wood. The shelves or boards used for aging make direct contact with finished products; hence they could be a potential source of pathogenic microorganisms in the finished products."

[zibazinski]

OMG, the sky is falling. People might actually have to THINK and DO for themselves, for a CHANGE. 

[dondub]

They do now.

[djAdvocate]

i have never been in a cheese plant where cheese was aged on wood.  it is not only unsanitary, it is totally unnecessary.  there is better technology, it works fine, and it has been used for half a century.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 10, 2014 11:19:51 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have never been in a cheese plant where cheese was aged on wood.  it is not only unsanitary, it is totally unnecessary.  there is better technology, it works fine, and it has been used for half a century.

You have never spent a lot of time in Wisconsin, have you?  It's America's little Switzerland.  I've seen a lot of cheese-making and in just about every way imaginable.  Unsanitary?  Cheese is the art of carefully letting milk spoil.

[djAdvocate]

Jun 10, 2014 12:31:03 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Jun 10, 2014 11:19:51 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have never been in a cheese plant where cheese was aged on wood.  it is not only unsanitary, it is totally unnecessary.  there is better technology, it works fine, and it has been used for half a century.

You have never spent a lot of time in Wisconsin, have you? 

yes.  i have spent about a month there in the last 10 years.

It's America's little Switzerland.  I've seen a lot of cheese-making and in just about every way imaginable.  Unsanitary?  Cheese is the art of carefully letting milk spoil.

so is yoghurt making, and it is all 3A dairy.  so is most of the cheese industry.  wood is foul.  and stupid.  and unnecessary.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 10, 2014 12:56:27 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jun 10, 2014 12:31:03 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

You have never spent a lot of time in Wisconsin, have you? 

yes.  i have spent about a month there in the last 10 years.

It's America's little Switzerland.  I've seen a lot of cheese-making and in just about every way imaginable.  Unsanitary?  Cheese is the art of carefully letting milk spoil.

so is yoghurt making, and it is all 3A dairy.  so is most of the cheese industry.  wood is foul.  and stupid.  and unnecessary.

It makes absolutely no difference.  We're talking about the aging process.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

. . o O (Can't artisanal cheesemakers just swap their wooden shelves for metal ones?)

[djAdvocate]

Jun 10, 2014 16:17:24 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Jun 10, 2014 12:56:27 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

so is yoghurt making, and it is all 3A dairy.  so is most of the cheese industry.  wood is foul.  and stupid.  and unnecessary.

It makes absolutely no difference.  We're talking about the aging process.

i am familiar with aging.  wood food contact is nasty.  if there are pathogens in the wood, there is no way to remove them.

we work PRIMARILY in aged cheeses, Paul: parm, romano, asiago.

but fine, you want to have a "craft cheese industry" that has wood contact, LABEL FOR IT, and let people take their bloody chances.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 10, 2014 16:17:24 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Jun 10, 2014 12:56:27 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

so is yoghurt making, and it is all 3A dairy.  so is most of the cheese industry.  wood is foul.  and stupid.  and unnecessary.

It makes absolutely no difference.  We're talking about the aging process.

Just... don't waste your time.

You're arguing against "Wood is foul. And stupid."

Just be thankful the government hasn't outlawed wooden counter tops, wooden cutting boards, or wooden cooking utensils. Yet. Five years from now, you may have to feed your kids handfuls of dirt just to prevent their immune systems from turning on themselves.

[djAdvocate]

Jun 10, 2014 17:47:05 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Jun 10, 2014 16:17:24 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

It makes absolutely no difference.  We're talking about the aging process.

Just... don't waste your time.

mind your own business, Virgil.  this is mine.

You're arguing against "Wood is foul. And stupid."

for food manufacturing it is totally stupid.  and foul.

Just be thankful the government hasn't outlawed wooden counter tops, wooden cutting boards, or wooden cooking utensils.

you can do whatever you like at home.  use leadwear, for all i care.  but when you are engaging with the public, you play by totally different rules, and FOR GOOD REASON.  fail to follow guidelines, and someone dies, your career is over.  you will lose your business, your house, and quite possibly your future.

Yet. Five years from now, you may have to feed your kids handfuls of dirt just to prevent their immune systems from turning on themselves.

no, you can do whatever you like with yourself and your property.  stick a hot poker in your eye as far as i am concerned.

but if you are messing with me and mine, you had better do it safely.  and that means NO WOOD.  end of discussion.

edit: Paul is right in that aged cheese is a totally different process, btw.  it doesn't require 3A after the milk stage.  but it needs something better than wood to prevent pathogens from becoming part of the aging process.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 10, 2014 18:25:12 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jun 10, 2014 17:47:05 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Just... don't waste your time.

mind your own business, Virgil.  this is mine.

You're arguing against "Wood is foul. And stupid."

for food manufacturing it is totally stupid.  and foul.

Just be thankful the government hasn't outlawed wooden counter tops, wooden cutting boards, or wooden cooking utensils.

you can do whatever you like at home.  use leadwear, for all i care.  but when you are engaging with the public, you play by totally different rules, and FOR GOOD REASON.  fail to follow guidelines, and someone dies, your career is over.  you will lose your business, your house, and quite possibly your future.

Yet. Five years from now, you may have to feed your kids handfuls of dirt just to prevent their immune systems from turning on themselves.

no, you can do whatever you like with yourself and your property.  stick a hot poker in your eye as far as i am concerned.

but if you are messing with me and mine, you had better do it safely.  and that means NO WOOD.  end of discussion.

edit: Paul is right in that aged cheese is a totally different process, btw.  it doesn't require 3A after the milk stage.  but it needs something better than wood to prevent pathogens from becoming part of the aging process.

If it bothers you that much, require that "this cheese was aged on wood" appear somewhere on the label. Cheese consumers such as yourself deathly afraid of pathogens in the aging process can elect to purchase other brands of cheese.

In the meantime, heaven help our society whose dwindling exposure to daily pathogens is slowly destroying our immune systems.

[marvholly]

As a microbiologist I agree about wood possibly harboring bacteria. I KNOW most cheese is dependent on a speciic type of bacteria in the process to reach the flavor desired. However, there is NO control of the amount, type or carry over from previous uses if shelves are wood. With HARD surfaces such as stainless steel simply washing w/soap & hot water removes alost all micro-organisms.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 11, 2014 5:50:21 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

And Virgil I get your point about our pristine little immune systems- it is a valid point.  I just think you are taking it out of context here.  I don't need to cut raw chicken on a wood cutting board and ingest a little salmonella to protect my immune system.  I sure as heck don't want commercial food production done that way.

You do, though. That's the harsh reality.

E. Coli, salmonella, listeria--we need to be exposed to numerous strains of these microorganisms. We occasionally need to get sick. If the immune system isn't sufficiently stimulated, problems vastly worse than food poisoning occur. Immune system disorders, bowel disorders, life-threatening allergies to common foods, the inability to produce certain digestive enzymes. Google "too clean society" and sample the results.

I'm not saying we should go out of our way to deposit harmful bacteria, etc. in our foods, but here we clearly have a situation where the government is fixing a problem that doesn't exist. Google "food poisoning from cheese". It's a non-existent consumer concern. Certain sites mention it in the context of runny cheeses (which can go bad extremely quickly) but people are clearly willing to accept the risk. In Canada, the Quebecois fought the government tooth and nail to be able to use unpasteurized milk in the production of their cheeses.

So here we have a potential source of pathogens whose impact is so negligible that nobody gives a toot about it, in an industry that has long-established equipment and practices that now have to be torn out for no reason other than to make our too-clean society even cleaner. We have less exposure to "microbial old friends" (epidemiologists' term; not mine), and who knows how many millions of dollars will be wasted in the conversion.

As I said to DJ, if consumers are deathly afraid about pathogens in their cheese (hint: they aren't, because they're fighting the bloody government to use unpasteurized milk), include "This cheese was aged on wood." somewhere on the label so that they can elect to buy other brands.

[The Captain]

But what the consumers have forgotten (because they've been shielded from it for decades) is that many people died from those former practises that they now are clamoring all hippy dippy to bring back because their unscientific opinion is that it's somehow beneficial.

Unfortunately good records of illness associated with raw milk were not kept before pasteurization became common, but since the rate of hospitalization from illness caused by raw milk products is 13X that of pasteurized milk products, I'll stick with cutting down on the nasty bugs where we can.

www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/rawmilk/raw-milk-index.html

www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=155061

Remember, I'm not a proponent of big government, but there are cases where it makes sense in the overall cause of public safety.

[Virgil Showlion]

But what the consumers have forgotten (because they've been shielded from it for decades) is that many people died from those former practises that they now are clamoring all hippy dippy to bring back because their unscientific opinion is that it's somehow beneficial.

The "too clean society" theory has been scientific canon for decades. And while nobody is denying that ancient practices weren't optimal, this is an issue of balance where there is such a thing as being "too clean".

If you don't believe me, take me up on my challenge and run the search. You'll find many a doctor and scientist alike warning us that we've gone too far. We've shot past the optimum and are headed ever further away from it. Moreover, the grand irony is that the article links to studies showing that wood-aged cheeses are no more unsanitary than the alternatives given proper handling.

No I don't, regardless of which point you are referring to.

I was referring to the point that you need occasional exposure to salmonella to protect your immune system. Your own post would seem to agree with this fact, only you're claiming you get your exposure to pathogens from other sources.

That's all well and good, and I won't fault you for passing on cheese marked "Aged using wood." But that is your informed decision to make. This "problem" is nowhere near critical enough or one-sided enough to warrant new regulations.

I can see "grandfathering" existing facilities, for sure.

It's not happening. Read the article in the OP. It's going to put a hatchet to artisan cheese-makers, shut down import markets, and outlaw millions upon millions in capital--entire buildings even.

What is the big deal with aging the cheese on a sanitary surface?

Tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in conversion costs, underexposure of consumers to pathogens, and the principle that vetting negligible (or nonexistent, if you believe the studies) risks like cheese aged on wood should be left to the consumer.

[Value Buy]

Jun 10, 2014 12:56:27 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jun 10, 2014 12:31:03 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

You have never spent a lot of time in Wisconsin, have you? 

yes.  i have spent about a month there in the last 10 years.

It's America's little Switzerland.  I've seen a lot of cheese-making and in just about every way imaginable.  Unsanitary?  Cheese is the art of carefully letting milk spoil.

so is yoghurt making, and it is all 3A dairy.  so is most of the cheese industry.  wood is foul.  and stupid.  and unnecessary.

Just wait until they come after your wood barrels to age your California chardonnay.....

I am sure everyone will be happy to age it in stainless steel vats

First they came for my local grocers wood butcher block.

Next they came for my whole milk in restaurants and school cafeterias

then the came for my cheese ageing wood boards

Next they come after my chardonnay wood ageing barrels..............

Where does the mayhem stop?

Elect more Tea Party members now before it's too late!

[djAdvocate]

Jun 11, 2014 1:06:38 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Jun 10, 2014 18:25:12 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

no, you can do whatever you like with yourself and your property.  stick a hot poker in your eye as far as i am concerned.

but if you are messing with me and mine, you had better do it safely.  and that means NO WOOD.  end of discussion.

edit: Paul is right in that aged cheese is a totally different process, btw.  it doesn't require 3A after the milk stage.  but it needs something better than wood to prevent pathogens from becoming part of the aging process.

If it bothers you that much, require that "this cheese was aged on wood" appear somewhere on the label.

i already suggested that, if you review my posts (post #8).  but what bothered me is that you dismissed my opinion with contempt, when your own opinion is not only ill-informed, but life threatening.

[djAdvocate]

Jun 11, 2014 9:41:11 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Jun 10, 2014 12:56:27 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

so is yoghurt making, and it is all 3A dairy.  so is most of the cheese industry.  wood is foul.  and stupid.  and unnecessary.

Just wait until they come after your wood barrels to age your California chardonnay.....

totally different.  for three reasons:

1) wine barrels are single use
2) wine barrels are flame sterilized
3) wine does not generally ferment in the barrel.

i knew someone would bring this up, btw.  it was only a matter of time.    figured it would be Virgil, but he gave you a thumbs up for your red herring.  at least you have that.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 11, 2014 9:47:09 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jun 11, 2014 1:06:38 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

If it bothers you that much, require that "this cheese was aged on wood" appear somewhere on the label.

i already suggested that, if you review my posts (post #8).  but what bothered me is that you dismissed my opinion with contempt, when your own opinion is not only ill-informed, but life threatening.

Everything is life-threatening if you disregard probabilities and unintended consequences.

And I dismissed your opinion with contempt because I consider it just as ill-informed as you consider mine.

But I did miss your stipulation in Reply #8, hence I apologize. It allows me once again... sort of... imagine you to be a libertarian, and that's a relief.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 11, 2014 9:53:39 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jun 11, 2014 9:41:11 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Just wait until they come after your wood barrels to age your California chardonnay.....

totally different.  for three reasons:

1) wine barrels are single use
2) wine barrels are flame sterilized
3) wine does not generally ferment in the barrel.

i knew someone would bring this up, btw.  it was only a matter of time.    figured it would be Virgil, but he gave you a thumbs up for your red herring.  at least you have that.

1) not all of them, at least not in any of the wineries I've visited
2) if you would oblige me, could you provide a reference to an online document/site stating this requirement
3) what the wine does in the barrel is irrelevant. The whole point of aging it in a barrel is to infuse the flavours of the wood into the wine. Any pathogens present on/in the barrel are obviously going to come into play.

And I gave VB a thumbs up for his parody of the Niemöller quote.

[djAdvocate]

Jun 11, 2014 9:54:43 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Jun 11, 2014 9:47:09 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i already suggested that, if you review my posts (post #8).  but what bothered me is that you dismissed my opinion with contempt, when your own opinion is not only ill-informed, but life threatening.

Everything is life-threatening if you disregard probabilities and unintended consequences.

but we are not talking about "everything".  we are talking about food safety.  the "unintended consequences" in this case are not dying (or sustaining heavy damage) from food poisoning.  if you want those consequences, you are welcome to them.  but i don't.  and i seriously doubt that cheese manufacturers, or the general public do, either.

and with that, i am going to go to work.  i have a parm pulverizing system that we are shipping today (100% food grade contact parts, of course). 

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 11, 2014 10:08:26 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

At the wineries we visited they were only used once.  I think they mentioned that nowhere are they used more than twice.

Don worri the (hic) alkohall kilz all the pathoginz!

For the record, I don't think the wine analogy is all that apt. Wine isn't cheese, and there would understandably be differences in how wood comes into play.

Having said that, brace yourself for the time when some busybody at the FDA decided it's their job to protect you from once-reused, non-flame-sterilized wooden barrels. They obviously do exist--possibly only for personal use--since if you Google "how are wine barrels sterilized?" (as I did, curious about DJ's claims) the first thing that comes up is a dozen how-to sites explaining how to sterilize your barrels with various washes after having used them several times (e.g. here, here and here).

[djAdvocate]

Jun 11, 2014 9:54:43 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

And I dismissed your opinion with contempt because I consider it just as ill-informed as you consider mine.

i would suggest that you reconsider that opinion.  i have 25 years in this field, Virgil.  we are done here.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 11, 2014 10:12:11 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jun 11, 2014 9:54:43 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Everything is life-threatening if you disregard probabilities and unintended consequences.

but we are not talking about "everything".  we are talking about food safety.  the "unintended consequences" in this case are not dying (or sustaining heavy damage) from food poisoning.  if you want those consequences, you are welcome to them.  but i don't.  and i seriously doubt that cheese manufacturers, or the general public do, either.

and with that, i am going to go to work.  i have a parm pulverizing system that we are shipping today (100% food grade contact parts, of course). 

The unintended consequences of banning every last speck of bacteria are the numerous conditions listed in my Reply #14, all of which are as or more severe than food poisoning.

Jun 11, 2014 10:12:11 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jun 11, 2014 9:54:43 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Everything is life-threatening if you disregard probabilities and unintended consequences.

but we are not talking about "everything".  we are talking about food safety.  the "unintended consequences" in this case are not dying (or sustaining heavy damage) from food poisoning.  if you want those consequences, you are welcome to them.  but i don't.  and i seriously doubt that cheese manufacturers, or the general public do, either.

and with that, i am going to go to work.  i have a parm pulverizing system that we are shipping today (100% food grade contact parts, of course). 

So the government forcing businesses to replace millions of dollars in equipment isn't exactly hurting your bottom line then.

At least somebody is benefiting from this whole thing.

i have 25 years in this field, Virgil.

And a conflict of interest the size of Wisconsin, but I digress...

[djAdvocate]

Jun 11, 2014 10:27:06 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

i have 25 years in this field, Virgil.

And a conflict of interest the size of Wisconsin, but I digress...

this is a very predictable ad-hominem attack, Virgil: dismissing expertise as bias.

for the record, i am not some sort of bacteria Nazi.  i think that we should not spend nearly so much time spraying things down with Chlorox to kill every last germ.  however, what you are suggesting is that we should invite pathogens like lysteria in food processing to protect our immune system, and this strikes me as an argument similar to those presented by the "anti-innoculation" crowd.  people have the right to CHOOSE whether their food is free of bacteria or not, bro.  if you want impure food, there are plenty of places you can find it.  go right ahead and load yourself up with potentially fatal pathogens in an attempt to buffer your immunity. 

but if you are selling me stuff that i would EXPECT to be pure food, and it is full of disease, and something happens to me or mine, you will rue the day.  every food manufacturer with a grain of sense will know that, so this is mostly a "board discussion".  the principle here is you have every right to risk your own life doing whatever you like to do, so long as it is not harming the person or property of a non-consenting other.  you have no right whatsoever to do that to anyone else.  this is that whole "public-vs-private" thing.  you want to poison yourself?  be my guest.  but your right to poison ends at the mouths of others.

edit: for the record, to address your attack, i have no skin in this game.  i just find your position, which i see as supporting "we are doing things the same way for 100 years, even it kills someone, we are going to keep doing it".  we are on the processing side of the cheese business, not the manufacturing side.  this standard has to do with manufacturing.  processing is already covered by the USDA and WDA.

[happyhoix]

The unintended consequences of banning every last speck of bacteria are the numerous conditions listed in my Reply #14, all of which are as or more severe than food poisoning.

The problem with using wooden equipment is that random bacteria can be introduced, at unknown quantities, because the wood can harbor all kinds (and quantities) of bacteria.  Yes mostly the cheese will be fine, except possibly for the elderly, small children and those with compromised immune systems. If you make the same cheese in a clean environment, and introduce only the bacteria you want at the concentration you want, you can be fairly certain that ALL the cheese will be fine, not just "most."

I agree that we shouldn't be using so much hand sanitizer, and kids should be allowed to play in the dirt more, and every household needs a shaggy, sloppy dog to help spread around the bacterial fauna. However, back in the day before food safety, it was true that we had better immune systems, but it was also true that people died or got seriously sick from food contamination. It was Russian roulette - and I would prefer not to go back to that.

 

[dondub]

 My perfectly fine immune system did not protect me from Salmonella, Listeria, or Camphylobacter, all food borne bacteria that made me quite ill, including hospitalization (Salmonella)
and a 3 week course of anti-biotics and a couple IV bags (Camphylobacter).

 The last time I went to Mexico I had a horrible experience that included 4 days of zero food so I could safely return home on a plane full of people , a broth diet for the first week home, and two weeks of different anti-biotics. Couple this with a 30 mlb. weightloss. Possible combo of tourista/giardia, not any of the three previos bacteria.

 There have been other events too and now I seem to be quite susceptible to any food that isn't quite fresh or has been handled improperly. These are nasty bugs and I agree with DJ and hope Virgil
never has blood diarrhea and instantaneous ass shooting fluid with a 5 second warning.

 My adventurous dining is way down, I grow a large organic garden, and I may never return to Mexico or any othet third worldly type place.

[Deleted]

FDA Backs Down In Fight Over Aged Cheese

www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcneal/2014/06/10/fda-backs-down-in-fight-over-aged-cheese/

According the the American Cheese Society, almost 75% of cheese producers in the three largest American producer states age at least some of their cheese on wood. Wisconsin alone ages almost 30 million pounds of cheese on wood. Over 60% of cheese makers surveyed use wood boards for aging. In Europe, 1 billion lbs. of cheese a year are aged on wood boards including some of the most popular in the US like Parmigiano Reggiano and Comte.

Let us pause for a second and ask, how many food borne pathogen issues have there been where the culprit was wooden aging boards? The answer: none. Indeed, food safety-wise, especially when one excludes cheese that would never be aged on wood, cheese has a very good track record for food safety.

gordonzola.net/2014/06/11/people-care-about-cheese-wood-fda-issues-new-statement/

[Virgil Showlion]

There's too many arguments for me to individually address.

I acknowledge that food poisoning can possibly occur. We live in a world of microorganisms. But let us review the facts:

1. The risk of food poisoning from cheese is negligible. Consumers are clearly willing to accept it. There are vastly greater food-related risks out there, many of them specifically built into the foods we enjoy (e.g. runny cheeses, cheeses made from unpasteurized milk, etc.) that consumers are also clearly willing to accept simply by purchasing the product. If you want to compare aging cheese to Russian roulette, it's Russian roulette using a revolver with one in a million chambers loaded, where you can choose whether to play and you get a delicious block of cheese if the gun doesn't fire.

2. According to studies clearly presented in the article, the use of wood while aging cheese is no more unsanitary than other techniques and does not influence the (already negligible) probability of food poisoning.

3. In addition to the intended negligible effect on consumer health, the ban will have three unintended countereffects: i) the destruction of millions in capital, ii) the shutting down of import markets from nations whose health regulatory agencies are obviously smarter than FDA bureaucrats, and iii) the removal of trace strains of "microbial old friends" that would ordinarily be present in foods to periodically prime the immune system. The effects of i and ii are self-evident. The effect of iii is immune system disorders, bowel disorders, etc. that, with all due respect dondub, are often lifelong conditions with symptoms as bad as those you describe. Hence it's quite possible that whatever negligible good the regulation might have will be dwarfed by the unintended health risks it introduces.

4. The industry is opposed to the new regulations because they're unnecessary at best, counterproductive at worst, and will destroy tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in capital regardless. Also, because banning wood-aged cheese will affect the quality and flavour of the cheeses, which is pretty much the only reason people eat artisanal cheeses in the first place.

5. Despite 1, 2, 3, and 4, the government isn't leaving this as a matter of consumer choice. They're not grandfathering in artisans that already use wood. They're not making it an issue of labeling. There's no choice involved here.

Hence I'm with Paul on this one. This is government destroying people's lives and livelihoods, denying consumers choice, and trading off a negligible risk for another of equal or greater magnitude. It's big government screwing up.