Many raw cheeses on the market are not truly raw. How to know if the brands you buy are on the up and up with no deceptive labeling.
In yet another case of labeling tricks and deception where store-bought food is concerned, some brands of raw cheese produced in the United States and sold at healthfood stores and specialty shops are anything but.
Organic Valley, the corporate behemoth that went to the Dark Side in 2010 when it banned its member farms from selling raw milk to the local community, is one of the worst offenders of this loophole in the USDA regulations. (1)
According to Federal Law 7 (CFR 58.438):
If the cheese is labeled as pasteurized, the milk shall be pasteurized by subjecting every particle of milk to a minimum temperature of 161 degrees Fahrenheit for not less than 15 [fifteen] seconds or by any other acceptable combination of temperature and time treatment approved by the Administrator. (2)
For FLUID PRODUCTS, “vat pasteurization” is defined as heating at 145 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 30 minutes; heating at 161 degrees for at least 15 seconds is called “high temperature short time pasteurization” [Federal Law 7 CFR 58.101]. (3)
What does this mean in layman’s terms?
It means that any cheese where the milk is heated to a temperature under 161 degrees Fahrenheit for less than 15 seconds could be called “raw” and labeled as such!
In 2010, Organic Valley admitted to capitalizing on this loophole. They called their raw cheese “subpasteurized” on their website, while failing to identify just how close subpasteurized is to actual pasteurization temperature. Sadly (but not surprisingly), they have now erased this page. (4)
Subpasteurization or “thermization” still heats the milk to an obscenely high temperature (typically 135°F to 158°F for about 15-20 seconds), which destroys nutrition as well as ALL probiotics, and enzymes.
Calling such a product “raw” is not only deceptive, it is downright insulting to the sensibilities and intelligence of its customers.
When too many people found out about the labeling bait and switch, they simply removed the page.
It seems par for the course that corporate America can just wipe history whenever it likes.
I saw the page with the “subpasteurization” wording with my own eyes back in 2010 … I should have taken a screenshot, but I didn’t yet fully realize back then how underhanded these companies truly are! 😠
Pseudo Raw Cheese
According to Miller’s Bio Farm, the fine print on Organic Valley’s “raw” cheese now says the following:
“Heated to 158F for 15 seconds”. (5)
So, the greenwashing is still happening 15 years later after my original article on the subject revealed the scam.
No apologies, no changing of their errant ways … only subterfuge and covering of their tracks.
While Organic Valley is no doubt the worst offender of this regulatory loophole, any other corporately produced raw cheese sold in stores and manufactured in the United States is also likely heated to subpasteurization temperatures that denature the raw milk.
Low Heat Necessary in Cheesemaking
Now, don’t get me wrong. SOME heating of milk is necessary during the cheesemaking process.
But the threshold is low and does not harm probiotics, enzymes or nutrients.
Mesophilic cultures work at temps ranging from 62–102F. The most common temp for this type of culture is around 90F. They are used to make many types of cheese, including cheddar, gouda, chèvre, muenster, and camembert.
Thermophilic cultures work at temps ranging from 104–112F. They are used to make cheeses like mozzarella, parmesan, provolone, swiss, and romano. (6)
What Brands of Raw Cheese Are Legit?
I researched another popular raw cheese brand (Grazier) and discovered that they also thermalize the milk (to 135°F) before making the cheese.
Thus, Sierra Nevada’s Grazier line of raw cheeses is taking advantage of the Federal pasteurization loophole as well.
On a positive note, a small dairy in my community which sells raw goat cheese locally in stores was very upfront and forthright with their answers about how the cheese is produced.
This dairy does truly produce raw cheese as the milk is only warmed to 98°F, which is well within the limits for enzyme and nutrient preservation.
How to Know if “Raw” Cheese is Truly Unheated
The lesson to be learned is that the best way to be sure that the cheese you buy comes from truly raw milk is to ideally buy from a small dairy farm that specializes in cheesemaking and to talk to the farmer yourself.
To find a family dairy near you, check out the Real Milk website or contact your local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation to obtain a list of locally produced goods.
If you don’t have a local dairy farm near you that makes cheese, contact the Weston A. Price Foundation and order the annually updated Shopping Guide.
This handy little brochure fits in your pocket or purse and lists many small farms across North America where you can mail-order truly raw cheese.
Many thanks to Pete Kennedy, Esq. and the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund for tracking down the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) references for this article.
(1) Organic Valley Capitulates on Raw Milk
(2) Code of Federal Regulations. Cheese from Pasteurized Milk
(3) Code of Federal Regulations. Meaning of Words (Fluid Milk)
(4) Page now missing where Organic Valley admits that it’s “raw cheeses” are “sub-pasteurized”
(5, 6) Is your raw cheese actually raw? Or has it been greenwashed?
Yes, I’d love to know what the optimal range is – you mentioned that 98F is well within the limits for enzyme and nutrient preservation. Does any temp. up to 145 stil keep enzymes/nutrients in tact?
Heating a liquid like milk at or over 118F destroys probiotics and enzymes. Dry heat over 150F destroys enzymes and probiotics (when dehydrating soaked nuts in a warm oven, for example)
I do purchase Organic Valley cheese but I am aware it is not truly raw.It is better than untra pasteurized though and 100% grassfed.
Only buy the blocks, never ever get slices or shredded! https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-to-detox-aluminum-from-the-brain/
Hi Sarah. Shelburne Farms, in Vermont, makes truly raw cheese and sells online (www.shelburnefarms.org). Hope this helps people who don’t have access to a local dairy or to an Azure drop-off location.
I contacted Shelburne Farms and here is what they said. “We DO NOT use sodium aluminum phosphate. In fact we only use 4 ingredients in our cheesemaking: raw milk from our herd of Brown Swiss cows, calf rennet, cultures (a blend of lactic acid bacteria), and plain old salt (NaCl). We are a completely raw cheese by raw food standards. That being said, to encourage the fermentation process we do heat the milk when we receive it gently raising the temperature from the mid 60’s F that we receive it at from the dairy to about 70 degrees F before adding in the cultures. We’ll gradually raise the temperature to 90 F before adding rennet. We gradually heat the cheese throughout coagulation and the stir phase of our cheese make topping out at about 102 F. That’s as high as we get. Our milk and our cheese remain unpasteurized and raw even by raw food standards. To ensure the safety of our cheese we test every batch of milk and we do regular environmental swabs of our dairy and cheesemaking facility. We also age our cheese for a minimum of 6 months which is 3 times as long as the FDA minimum of 60 days for unpasteurized and raw milk cheeses.”
Sarah – I looked at the Sierra Nevada cheddar online and it is heated to 135. There is also a Rumiano cheese that is only heated to 102. What is still considered raw? The thing is, I thought all hard cheeses had to be cooked to turn them into cheese. So how can one have a truly raw hard cheese?
I buy raw cheese online from Miller’s Bio Farm and The Family Cow, both based in Pennsylvania.
I’m in San Diego, CA.
Hi Sarah – Do you know anything about the Sierra Nevada company? We love their raw cheddar. My Real Food Bay Area raw milk pickup sells it as does Azure. I would love to know if it’s really raw. Thanks!