2023-12-26 17:11:00
What does raw milk cheese mean?
In France, it is estimated that raw milk cheeses represent 15% of matured cheeses sold in France! Their particularities? Raw milk cheeses are cheeses made with milk that has not been heated above 40°C ! This manufacturing process thus makes it possible to preserve the microbial flora (which would be destroyed by heating at a higher temperature) which will give the cheese its particular taste! Throughout the manufacturing process, the evolution of these microorganisms naturally present in milk is carefully controlled so that the health quality of milk and dairy products is respected and that they are perfectly healthy and safe for the consumer. .
A milk cheese can be made from sheep milkof goat’s milk or of cow milk.
Raw milk cheeses are very numerous: they represent 15% of matured cheeses sold in France, according to the dedicated site created at the initiative of the dairy inter-professions CNIEL and ANICAP with the CNAOL! Among the best known: chabichou, Normandy Camembert, Reblochon, Tomme de Savoie, Brie, Morbier, Roquefort, Comté, Beaufort, Emmental… but also many cheeses that can be found in raw milk or pasteurized milk like Cantal or Saint-Nectaire, for example!
In stores, it is quite easy to recognize them since raw milk cheeses systematically have the words “raw milk” on their label and/or on the window behind which they are displayed.
Raw milk cheese, what precautions should you take before eating it?
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty is unequivocal and indicates that “health authorities recommend that vulnerable populations do not consume raw milk or raw milk cheeses“. Several types of population are affected:
young children, particularly those under 5 years old; “beyond that, the risk still exists but it decreases, children are still better protected beyond five years”, explains the Ministry. pregnant women ; immunocompromised people, that is to say people who are already sick, very tired or even hospitalized.
Raw milk cheese: what are the risks?
Although the players in the sector carry out all the necessary checks and scrupulously respect health rules, there is a risk with raw cheese… which is why its consumption is not recommended for certain populations.
The risk ? That an infection of the udders or an incident during milking leads to contamination of the milk by pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella, Listeria, Escherichia coli, etc.), naturally present in the digestive tract of ruminants… and which, like milk, does not is not heated above 40°C, are not destroyed during the manufacture of raw milk cheese.
In France over the last decade, 34% of salmonellosis epidemics, 37% of listeriosis epidemics and 60% of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) infection epidemics are linked to the consumption of raw milk cheeses, notes the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES). And if such contamination represents only a lower risk for healthy adults, for sensitive and fragile people the risks are much greater, among the consequences of an infection following the consumption of raw milk cheese. contaminated:
Other risks attributed to raw cheeses? In 2020, France recorded the first cases of transmission of the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) through food. In question ? Raw milk goat cheese responsible for the contamination of 43 people! To better understand the health issues surrounding raw milk cheeses, ANSES experts are currently working on the risks of transmission of pathogenic microorganisms from animals to humans via the consumption of cheese.
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