NutraIngredients. com
EU ban threatens UK specialist cheese
By Chris Mercer

08/12/2006 - Time is running out for producers of specialist, cloth-bound cheese
in the UK as efforts stall in their bid to continue using a chemical that is
banned across the EU.

The handful of cloth-bound, cheddar cheesemakers in the UK have so far failed to
remain exempt from a EU ban on methyl bromide, a chemical they say is vital for
its abililty to destroy cheese mites during maturation.

Producers say their survival is threatened because no viable alternative to
methyl bromide has yet been found.

“Other member states are not convinced by the need for it, which I find very
annoying,” Clare Cheney, of the Specialist Cheesemakers' Association, told
DairyReporter. com.

“This is a premium farmhouse cheese that matures for up to two years. If you
cannot control the mites it would not last 10 months. They would eat through
into the cheese.”

Methyl bromide was phased out across all sectors in the EU from January 2004
because of its harmful effect on the planet's ozone layer.

A critical use exception (CUE) was granted to cloth-bound cheese producers, who
are exclusive to the UK.

That order was due to expire at the end of this year. An extension into 2007 was
proposed by the European Commission, on producers' request, but the UK
government failed to secure a separate exemption required under different
legislation.

That has left producers in a real tight spot, despite ongoing support from the
UK government's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Cheney said producers had so far struggled to find an alternative to methyl
bromide. “Much more research is needed. The Commission has suggested all sorts
of things, but none of them are any good.”

One suggestion was the use of an inert powder that would literally dry out the
mites and kill them off. But producers say this method does not work well in the
humid conditions needed to store their cheese.

Another suggestion has been to remove the cloth from the cheese at a certain
point, in theory also removing the mites' breeding ground.

Cheney, however, saw no benefit in this either. “If you remove the cloth you
immediately remove all of this fantastic flavour.”
http://www.nutraing redients. com/news/ ng.asp?n= 72647-eu- specialist- cheese-methyl- bromide

Methyl Bromide is still permitted for cleaning the 40 ft containers so why select cheesemakers for this ban?