The State Milk Board of Missouri has destroyed 30,000 pounds of cheese made by Morningland Dairy. A court battle has been ongoing about the cheese for the last two and a half years.
According to court documents, the state obtained a final order of permanent injunction against the dairy in February 2011. The order stated that the plaintiff demonstrated “no adequate remedy at law exists such that a permanent injunction is necessary to prevent immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage.” Morningland of the Ozarks LLC was ordered to destroy all of its cheese products condemned by the Missouri State Milk Board on August 26, 2010. The Dairy refused to comply with that order, so in October 2010 Attorney General Koster brought an injunction against the Dairy.
In August 2010, Morningland Dairy recalled 68,957 pounds of its cheese because it may have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The raw milk cheese was sold in the lower 48 states via mail order, retail stores, crop sharing associations, and direct delivery. Sampling by the State of California discovered that Morningland Dairy Hot Pepper Colby and Garlic Colby Cheeses contained the two bacteria.
The FDA did take 100 environmental swabs at the Dairy, but none tested positive for Listeria bacteria. The bacteria can become concentrated in the cheesemaking process. The FDA does state that aged raw milk cheeses are “generally considered to be safe”, but an E. coli outbreak in Missouri this month may have been linked to aged raw milk cheese.
The government is OFF ITS ROCKER. Not one sample tested positive for any bacteria? Why on earth would they be putting a family farm out of business by destroying 30,000lb of cheese, then?
Is it guilt by association (since they picked this up during the Rawesome raid), or what?
No, the samples of the cheese tested positive for Listeria and Staphylococcus in California. When that happens all of the product associated with the contaminated samples must be pulled; that’s the law. Environmental sampling may not catch the bacteria that contaminated with cheese. It can be found in the cheese more easily because it becomes concentrated as the cheese ages.