Food Safety - Quality Control Program for Farmstead Sheep Cheese

View the project final report

Commodities

• Animals: sheep

Practices

• Animal Production: preventive practices
• Education and Training: demonstration, farmer to farmer, focus group, networking, on-farm/ranch research, technical assistance
• Farm Business Management: risk management
• Pest Management: sanitation
• Production Systems: holistic management

Farmstead sheep cheese gets much of its distinctive flavor from raw milk, but concerns about food-borne illness may affect consumer confidence and lead to pasteurization regulations. An alternative is to develop safety and quality controls that assure consumers that the cheese is safe and encourage other cheese producers to adopt them. The project includes sampling, testing, and adopting model food safety procedures.