Raw Milk, E Coli And Cheese
UK - The survival of two pathogens in unpasteurised cheeses is the focus of a new three-year project funded by the Food Standards Agency and led by CCFRA. The understanding generated will help better assess and assure the safety of cheeses made from raw milk.
26 November 2007
1 minute read
It is known that Mycobacterium bovis, which is associated with human disease, can survive in cheeses made from unpasteurised milk, though the actual risk of this is unclear. Another human pathogen VTEC (vero-cytotoxin producing E. coli) has also been associated with raw milk and cheeses made from it - though little is known about how well it can survive in fermented foods such as cheese, where starter cultures and the natural microbial flora might compete with it.
The project will develop and evaluate methods for detecting, isolating and enumerating these organisms from milk and cheeses. It will also assess the survival of the micro-organisms in a range of hard and soft raw cheeses, showing different characteristics likely to affect survival (e.g. pH, salt), throughout the life of the cheeses. It should also enable some predictive work to be done, for determining whether certain characteristics of the cheeses provide greater potential for inhibiting the growth of M. bovis.
The project consortium brings together microbiologists, dairy product experts and cheese manufacturers, including Queens University Belfast, Reaseheath College, Dairy UK and the Northern Ireland Dairy Council. We would be delighted to hear from industrialists interested in joining the project steering group.
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