Fonterra helps with raw milk tests

The Food Safety Authority says it is using facilities provided by Fonterra - one of the world's biggest cheese manufacturers - to assess the safety of raw milk and raw milk products.

Some critics of the current ban on cheeses made of raw milk have argued that Fonterra's massive factories are a different concept to the small makers of boutique and fancy cheeses who would be most likely to use raw milk.

But FSA acting executive director Sandra Daly said unique facilities and expertise were being made available to conduct the research, which was well under way. But she emphasised that the methodology of the research had been developed independently of Fonterra, by scientists from FSA, Environmental Science and Research, and Massey University.

A transtasman food standard agency last month gave Australians the go-ahead to import potentially risky, smelly roquefort bleu cheese, a French delicacy. But New Zealanders are not allowed even a sniff of the mouldy soft cheese traditionally made from raw milk and matured in caves - it is outlawed on health grounds because it is made from unpasteurised milk.

Gourmets claim raw milk cheeses develop greater depth of flavour, aroma and taste, and cheeses made from heat-treated milk - as is the entire New Zealand cheese production - are bland. But the classification of the roquefort as a high-risk product means it cannot be shuffled across the Tasman after arrival in Australia.

Daly said New Zealanders travelled widely and many of those who had sampled the raw milk cheeses of Europe are keen to be able to buy in New Zealand.

Raw (unpasteurised) milk and milk products, are not allowed to be sold here, though farmers can legally sell small quantities of raw milk at the gate. And before the New Zealand standard for unpasteurised milk and milk products can be changed, FSA wants a comprehensive assessment of the risks.

The FSA, in partnership with Fonterra, was undertaking world-leading studies to measure the effectiveness of the pasteurisation process under modern commercial conditions, she said.

The local research will also be used to evaluate whether new technologies for treating raw milk and its products can achieve the same level of food safety as pasteurisation, without changing food quality.

- NZPA