The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is expected to issue dairies with new guidance on the use of mouldy cheese, floor sweepings, shavings and gratings this week, following a dispute with the European Commission (EC) over food safety levels.
Last Thursday (October 12) the EC gave the agency five days to respond to allegations that it had failed to act on alleged food safety violations at Lancashire-based Bowland Dairy Products, before the case was taken to court.
According to industry insiders, the FSA’s revised guidance will state that floor sweepings and mouldy cheese must not be used for human consumption, but disposed of as an animal by-product. Cheese shavings or gratings will be permitted in food if they can be hygienically recovered in a way that is controlled by the company’s hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) plan.
The advice will also state that hard cheese, from which the mould has been removed, will be allowed in food, and that 3-4 cm of the outer layer of mouldy cheese should be removed, as a minimum, or more if the mould has penetrated deep into the cheese.
The FSA is also understood to be planning to review previous studies on the acceptability of using mouldy cheese, and is seeking the opinion of the UK Committee on Toxicity.
However, it has yet to respond to the EC’s claim that it failed to act on alleged food safety violations at curd cheese manufacturer Bowland, following an inspection by the EC’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) in June.
The FVO claimed Bowland was illegally placing on the market raw milk for which compliance with EU maximum residues levels for antibiotics could not be ensured. It also claimed the dairy was vacuum-packaging non-compliant cheese derived from mouldy cheese, or cheese contaminated with foreign bodies, such as rubber gloves. The FVO also alleged that the dairy had been using milk that tested positive for the presence of antibiotic residues.
But the FSA stated: “There are genuine differences of views on the science behind the testing for antibiotics in milk and these have not yet been resolved.”
The EC banned EU exports of Bowland curd cheese, and the dairy has since gone into receivership. An FVO inspection of the entire UK dairy industry will take place in November.
Neville Craddock, a former head of regulatory affairs at Nestlé and now an independent consultant, said: “There was some panic in the industry [over the pending inspection].
“However, the fundamental issue is much more political - there is an increased degree of scepticism in the Brussels at how the UK conducts its safety inspections. Brussels want to see a central structure for food enforcement, it doesn’t like it being devolved by the local authorities.”
Craddock added: “Whenever the FVO comes to the UK, it seems it likes to find fault with the UK’s enforcement. In the past, the FVO visited the UK and gave slaughterhouse inspection teams an almighty hammering, now dairy is being slated.”
The FSA and the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (Lacors) will meet on October 19 to discuss the situation.