As the Senate debates a sweeping food safety bill, an award-winning artisan cheesemaker from Washington State is becoming a symbol of the concern about the safety of food produced by small farmers, The New York Times reports.
Kelli Estrella owns Estrella Family Creamery, where she produces cheese and sells it at farmers’ markets and to fancy restaurants in New York and Los Angeles. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration moved to shut down her creamery after tests showed some of her cheese contained the deadly bacteria listeria, and she refused to issue a broad recall of her products.
Because the FDA does not have the authority to mandate a recall, the agency was forced to make a case against Estrella and her cheese in court, arguing it should be considered contaminated. As a result, a federal judge had marshals effectively impound the cheese.
According to federal and state regulators, Estrella isn’t the only small cheesemaker whose products recently have been found to be contaminated. In April, the FDA began to test 102 soft-cheese makers for listeria, finding the bacteria in 24 of the facilities. Of these 24, more than half were artisanal producers. So far this year, at least nine artisan cheese producers have issued recalls, most involving listeria in soft cheeses. (Artisan cheese is made by hand often with raw milk that is not pasteurized to kill bacteria.)
While some argue the government should leave independent cheesemakers like Estrella alone, focusing instead on larger food manufacturers, regulators say it’s about safety, not the size of the producer.
“When we find a pathogen in a facility, especially one that can kill or cause miscarriages, we’re going to take action,” a FDA spokesperson told The Times.
Last week, senators debating the food safety bill struck a deal to exempt small producers from some of the rules imposed by the legislation.
“They really need to go after the industrial producers,” said Senator Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana, who pushed for the exemption. “The level of risk is far less with the little guy than it is with the big guy.”
A vote on the bill is expected after Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, the cheesemaker, whose products have yet to be linked to any illnesses, plans to fight back in court. Estrella said she believes the FDA’s move is part of a larger campaign against raw milk, and she will fight for her customers’ right to choose the foods they eat.
“I think that we’re losing our freedom,” she said.
better she is loosing her freedom, then her customers their health or life.
What does those people believe they are? FDA found deadly bacterias in the food they sell for a lot of money and they argue about making people sick. Throw them in prison, so they can think about it the next 10 years.