The food standards agency in Scotland (Food Standards Scotland) has changed its rules around the production of raw milk cheese.

Five Scottish cheesemakers used crowd funding to challenge the legality of the FSS’s inspection and enforcement guidance rules.

The cheesmakers said that the rules would have made production "unviable".

However, the legal action was dropped when the FSS and the Scottish Food Enforcement Liaison Committee (SFELC) published new guidance, in line with World Health Organisation and EU recommendations.

The producers said they are delighted with the outcome of the ruling and said that the guidance has now "undergone significant changes which secures of future of raw milk cheese production in Scotland".

Fees

The five businesses - Errington Cheese, Isle of Mull Cheese, Galloway Farmhouse Cheese, Cambus O’May Cheese Co and Finlay's Farm Ltd - exceeded the initial £15,000 funds needed for legal fees allowing for the preparation and submission of a potential judicial review.

They said that the FSS’s guidance was contrary to agreed EU industry guidance and established best practice and they were concerned that it would make "raw cheese production in Scotland unviable".

FSS abandoned its motion to seek expenses against from the cheesemakers.

Support

“I want to say a huge thanks to those who have supported us over the past few months.

"This has been a stressful period for everyone and we really couldn’t have done it without the public support. It’s a massive relief,” Selina Cairns, director at Errington Cheese, said.

“We’re extremely hopeful that this is the last chapter of what has been an incredibly hard couple of years, with actions from Food Standards Scotland having detrimental impacts on our business and sales growth.”

Statement

FSS told the Irish Farmers Journal that revisions to the guidance were agreed following discussions at a meeting on 6 March 2019 between FSS, the SFELC and representatives of the raw milk cheese sector.

"The revisions, which would have been made regardless of this legal challenge, serve to provide additional clarity in relation to sampling and testing, and the actions that would be taken when tests show a potential food safety risk," a spokesperson for FSS said.

Changes

The changes made to the FSS’s guidelines are in relation to how raw milk cheese producers minimise the risk of Shiga toxin-producing E coli (STEC). The assumption that all STECs are pathogenic has been changed.

The new guidance accepts that business operators “would not be expected to include all of the criteria listed [in Annex 2], but should choose the most appropriate sampling points for their verification tests”.

It also departs from the original guidance by not requiring the testing of every batch of raw milk.

The requirement to inform the local authority has been altered so that business operators are reminded of their obligations under the current legal position.

Read more

Farmer loses appeal against appointment of receiver over EU payments

Bayer loses €1.8bn Roundup court case