Calder, UMaine Extension mentioned in BDN article on food safety among cheesemakers
Beth Calder, a food science specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and associate professor of food science in the School of Food and Agriculture, was quoted in the Bangor Daily News article, “How Maine’s cheesemakers are keeping food safety a top priority.” When news broke about a listeria outbreak tied to Vulto, a New York-based artisan creamery earlier this spring, Maine’s growing community of artisan cheesemakers reacted with sadness and shock, the BDN reported. Records from the creamery showed that more than a quarter of swab tests done between July 2014 and February 2017 were positive for Listeria monocytogenes, the article states. Calder said what happened at Vulto isn’t the way things are supposed to be. “If they were getting hits, they should have been doing corrective action on their sanitation practice,” she said. A contributing factor to Maine cheesemaking safety is the work of the Maine Cheese Guild, the article states. The guild, which works to support and encourage the Maine cheesemaking community, has co-sponsored a food and dairy safety workshop with UMaine Extension every other year.