Much ado about cheese

The American artisanal cheese industry has been in a furor over a statement made by Monica Metz, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration official, about the equipment they use.

In a response to a query made by New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets, Metz wrote that the porous composition of wooden racks on which cheese ages “cannot be adequately cleaned and sanitized,” according to The Washington Post. Therefore, she maintained that using wooden boards during the aging process does not conform to good manufacturing practices and could spread harmful pathogens.

The news caused an uproar among artisanal cheese-makers, fearing for their livelihoods, while major media outlets have run headlines like Forbes’ “FDA may destroy American artisan cheese industry.”

The FDA has since clarified that Metz’s response was not a declaration of a policy change.