capnews cheese article

8/14/2019 CapNews Cheese Article

1/4

This article can be found at: http://www.carleton.ca/jmc/cnews/31102008/n1.shtmlArchive link: http://www.carleton.ca/Capital_News/26092008/n1.shtml

Producers say new cheese standards areno gouda

By Kristen ShaneProducer: Amanda Truscott

OTTAWA | Oct. 31, 2008 hree of Canadas biggest cheese

makers are set to take the federalovernment to court over new

ngredient regulations they saytink worse than a whiff ofimburger.

he changes, slated to take effectfter Dec. 13, would requireheese makers to derive a certainercentage of the protein in theirheeses from fresh milk ratherhan milk byproducts.

n a rare display of solidarityetween competitors, Kraft Canadanc., Parmalat Canada Inc. andaputo Inc. jointly filed anpplication in Federal Court Oct.0, challenging the regulations.

he three cheese makers say the proposed changes would force them to abandonmaking a greater product variety using ingredients such as whey, butter, wheyrotein concentrates and other milk solids. Instead, they would have to makeheeses with more fresh milk, which is generally more costly than milk byproducts.

Milking the system

The objective of these new regulations is only to support the dairy producersncome, says Yvan Loubier, a spokesperson for the three companies, whichollectively control 70 per cent of the Canadian cheese market.

he new rules would see dairy farmers milk $185 million in new revenue each yearrom cheese makers, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), theovernment branch that would oversee the changes.

A world of Canadian cheese

Brie,bocconciniand blueshowtheircolours atIl NegozioNicastro.

Requires FlashPlayer

Ripening regulations

Right now, there are two conflicting sets of regulationsfor cheese ingredients, and producers have tended tofollow the ones that suit them best.

The Dairy Products Regulations allow cheese to bemade only with milk, skim milk, partly skimmed milk,butter milk, whey cream and cream, or these sameingredients in their concentrated, dried or reconstituteform.

The Food and Drugs Act allows the same standards asthe DPR andwhey, butter, butter oil, whey butter,whey protein concentrates and other milk solids. Itdoesn't set standards for acceptable amounts of eachtype of ingredient.

Cheesemakers' reluctance to share their exact recipesmakes it difficult to know what the current proportionsof milk and milk products in cheese are. The DairyIndustry Working Group consulted industryrepresentatives and came up with these numbers. Itadmits they're only rough estimates:

Mozarella:60 per cent milkCheddar:70 per cent milkOther cheeses:80 per cent milk

Here's what the new regulations would look like

Varietyof cheese

Minimumpercentageof contentfrom milk orcream

Limit on theuse ofmodifiedmilkingredients


2/4

he CFIA estimates cheese makers would in turn pay $71 million more annually toeplace milk byproducts with milk, or an extra 24 cents per kilogram of cheese.

he Dairy Processors Association of Canada,n industry group representing big cheeseheese makers, estimates its members would

ose $165 million in retail and restaurantales.

Higher price for a slice

How might this play out on grocery storehelves? Would the average feta fan have tohell out more fees for their cheese?

t only makes sense, says Loubier, that cheese makers would pass their increasedosts onto consumers, but it is too soon to say how much.

While it seems obvious the consumer would lose, the supposed winner the dairyarmer would also eventually suffer, says Loubier.

Demand for Canadian cheese will decrease. If demand from the Canadianonsumer goes down, the cheese maker will buy less milk from the dairy producers.n the middle to long term, the dairy producer will lose.

The real gouda

ot so, says Thrse Beaulieu, spokesperson for the Dairy Farmers of Canada. Inecent years, she says, she has had more and more calls from customers concernedbout whats in their cheese.

The regulations will bring clear guidelines and it will build on consumer confidence,he says. We want to make sure cheese remains cheese and the main ingredientemains milk."

ow, Beaulieu says, vague terms such as modified-milk ingredients and milk solidsmean consumers dont know what they are getting out of cheese.

hose labels would still exist if the changes took effect (up to 37 per cent of proteinontent could come from milk byproducts for some varieties), but at least cheeseovers would know their cheese was made mostly of milk.

A longstanding pair of contradictory laws has effectively allowed processors thehoice to make cheese with just milk, or both milk and milk byproducts.

Weve been telling the government that you need to fix this. You cannot possiblyave one regulation telling you one thing and the other saying something else, sayseaulieu.

After months of negotiation between dairy farmers and cheese makers, any hopesf a compromise curdled in 2006, leaving a mediator to propose the new rules tohe CFIA.

hese are meant to harmonize the opposing regulations and ensure consistency in

'Its not a question of

health . . . or taste, orsafety. Its only aquestion ofsupporting dairyproducers.'

Pizza Mozzarella,Part skim PizzaMozzarella

63 per cent 37 per cent

Asiago, Baby Edam,Baby Gouda, Blue,

Camembert, Danbo,Edam, Elbo,Emmental, Fontina,Fynbo, Gouda,Gournay, Gruyre,Havarti, Limburger,Maribo, Muenster,Parmesan,Provolone, Romano,St-Jorge, Saint-Paulin, Tilsiter,Tybo, etc.


Brick, CanadianStyle Brick,Canadian StyleMunster, Colby,Farmers, MontereyJack, Mozzarella,Part SkimMozzarella, PartSkim Pizza, Pizza,Skim, etc.


Aged Cheddar 100 per cent 0 per cent

Sources: Canada Gazette, Dec. 26, 2007, Library of

Parliament


3/4

heese making, the agency explained last June in the governments officialewsletter, Canada Gazette.

rking Americans

ut Loubier questions whyanada would apply strictompositional standards forheese, risking the ire of itsnternational trading partners.

The United States especiallyould think that its arotectionist measure. Its not auestion of health . . . or taste,r safety. Its only a question ofupporting dairy producers, heays.

eaulieu doubts other countrieswould have their knives out foranada if the regulations come

nto force. She says France hasimilar standards. Switzerlandas a milk-only rule for Emmental, and the United States for Cheddar.

Cows and calories

Whether or not Canada is in line with the rest of the worlds cheese standards,haron Zeiler of the Canadian Diabetes Association is cheesed off the government is

messing with a recipe she says works.

eiler worries the CFIA-proposed changes would limit the availability of lower-fatheeses. Processors would stop making some reduced-fat varieties because it woulde too expensive to change their recipes to meet the new standards.

There is good evidence that having a lower-fat diet does reduce your risk forardiovascular disease. It contributes to lowering your risk for Type 2 diabetes, sheays. In my opinion, this was a strictly economic decision. Definitely, the healthffects were not taken into consideration.

n response, Beaulieu notes that many low-fat cheeses are also made with skimmilk, which is not limited by the new rules.

ts now up to the Federal Court to separate the curds from the whey. Loubier

xpects the court to take up to 16 months to examine his clients case. In themeantime, the regulations are still set to take effect mid-December.

Related Links

Canadian Cheese Compositional Standards

Canadian cheese got its first taste ofinfamy when the 22,000-poundMammoth crashed through the floor ofthe Chicago World's Fair in 1893.


4/4

Dairy Farmers of Canada

Realcheese.ca

Canada Gazette

capnews cheese article

Documents