2024-01-08 07:00:17
Reblochon, Roquefort, Salers, Brie, Picodon, Pélardon, Camembert, Morbier, Mont d’Or, … all these cheeses have one thing in common: they are made with raw milk. This specificity gives them a unique taste, but can expose the consumer to the risk of food poisoning. To better prevent this risk, several ANSES teams have decided to start manufacturing raw milk cheeses. Explanations.
Making raw milk cheeses in a research laboratory
Raw milk is defined as milk of animal origin, which has not undergone any of the following transformations : pasteurization, sterilization, thermization, microfiltration or even ultrafiltration. Without these treatments, raw milk, and the cheeses made with it, can sometimes contain pathogens, particularly bacteria, such as:
Listeria monocytogenesresponsible for listériose; Brucella melitensisresponsible for human brucellosis; Escherichia coliresponsible for sometimes serious food infections.
Consumption of raw milk or raw milk cheeses is therefore likely to lead to food poisoning, particularly in certain vulnerable people: infants and young children, the elderly, pregnant women and immunocompromised people. To better understand the transmission of pathogens to humans through the consumption of raw milk cheese, ANSES researchers decided to make their own raw milk cheeses in the laboratory.
Read also – Better protect yourself from Escherichia coli food infections
Two research projects on the contamination of raw milk cheeses
ANSES researchers are working on two projects aimed at better understanding how pathogens pass from animals to humans via raw milk and raw milk cheeses. The first project focuses on a virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus. In 2020, in Ain, 43 people were contaminated by this virus, following the consumption of raw milk goat cheese. Researchers already know that all animals contaminated with this virus can excrete it in milk. But then why are only consumers of raw goat’s milk cheese affected, and not those who consume raw cow’s milk cheese? The researchers have put forward several hypotheses, which they will be able to test by making their own cheeses:
Differences between manufacturing processes: heating phase, pH (measure of acidity), humidity of the cheese or even its salt content; Differences in the composition of milk: fat, protein or vitamin contents; The presence of particular cells in certain milks.
The second project was launched in October 2023 and focuses on risk of contamination of reblochon by bacteria Brucella melitensis. Until now, the bacteria has always remained undetectable in Reblochon, although a minimal quantity of bacteria can be enough to cause human brucellosis. Currently, if Brucella are detected on a farm, the milk and Reblochon produced are immediately withdrawn from the market according to the precautionary principle. Researchers would like to precisely assess the risk of consumer contamination.
Read also – Raw milk cheeses, how to enjoy them without regretting it?
Raw milk cheeses to avoid in fragile people
The manufacturing of raw milk cheeses by ANSES will be very far from the artisanal processes of French farms. To accurately assess the transmission of each pathogen, researchers must work in confined laboratories and will use milk artificially contaminated with the bacteria to be studied. This work should make it possible, in the months and years to come, to better prevent the risks of contamination of raw milk cheeses.
Until then, the consumption of raw milk or raw milk cheeses remains not recommended for vulnerable people :
Children under 5 years old; Pregnant women ; Immunocompromised people; Elderly, sick or hospitalized people.
In these people, the presence of bacteria in the products consumed can cause significant symptoms or even death. For these people, choose pressed, cooked cheeses, such as Comté, Abondance, Beaufort, Gruyère or Emmental!
Read also – Neonatal listeriosis, how to prevent it?
Estelle B., Doctor of Pharmacy
Sources
– Consumption of cheeses made from raw milk: reminder of the precautions to take. agriculture.gouv.fr. Accessed December 21, 2023.
– Make cheeses to study health risks. www.anses.fr. Accessed December 21, 2023.
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