Many people love the texture and richer, more complex flavors of raw-milk cheese but wonder whether it’s okay to eat given it’s made with unpasteurized (often called raw) milk.
Raw milk can be contaminated with harmful bacteria, and it’s one of the riskiest foods to eat, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Food and Drug Administration requires raw-milk cheese, domestic or imported, to be aged for at least 60 days before it’s sold. (In some other countries, raw-milk cheeses aren’t aged as long.) During that time, the bacteria should be destroyed, but that’s not always the case. In 2016 the FDA tested over 1,600 samples of raw-milk cheeses for salmonella, listeria, and toxin-producing E. coli. Less than 1 percent of the samples were contaminated. Most of those were semisoft types, such as Fontina, or soft-ripened, such as Brie, but some were hard cheeses, like cheddar and manchego. (Read “Is Cheese Good for You?” for information on the health effects of eating all types of cheeses.)
“If a producer follows strict sanitation protocols and good manufacturing processes, the risk of getting sick from raw-milk cheese is low,” says Adam Brock, vice president of food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance for the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. Still, it’s safer to avoid softer types of cheese made with unpasteurized milk. And people who are pregnant, immunocompromised, or older should consider avoiding all raw-milk cheese because they’re more susceptible to serious effects from food poisoning.
Editor’s Note: This article also appeared in the November 2022 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
