Codex milk group faces stalemate over processed cheese definition

Reuters

DEGREES OF PROCESS: What constitutes processed cheese has left an international committee at a dead end.

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When is a cheese not a cheese? That is a question members of an international committee deciding milk products standards at a meeting in Auckland next week will probably not be able to answer.

After 16 years of setting benchmarks for new products, hygiene, labelling and for analysing products, the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products is likely to be thwarted for only the second time.

The committee, which had to set aside the issue of the naming rights of parmesan cheese several years ago when agreement could not be reached, is expected to have similar disagreement over deciding what constitutes processed cheese.

Codex standards are designed to protect the health of consumers and promote fair trade in food. The committee is of vital importance to New Zealand's $10 billion dairy trade as its standards mean manufacturing processes can be standardised, instead of having to change for individual countries. The argument over processed cheese hinges on whether an international standard should specify how much cheese should be in a product.

Processed cheese is used in food manufacturing and in New Zealand is commonly used in pizza toppings, hamburgers and as sliced cheese in school lunches. It can also contain milk fat, vegetable oil, emulsifiers and homogenisers.

Codex's 183 countries are divided into low and high-cheese factions, says the committee's chairman, New Zealander Steve Hathaway.

"We don't expect it to be sorted out," he said. "We can't pre-empt what will happen but we think the differences are too great. We've had a working group on it out of session and there is no agreement."

It was the last issue on a list of priorities and would mean the committee would end its life with only its second failure.

"That happens, but it is important to note it is not about food safety, it is about trade."

New Zealand delegation head Ann Hayman said being unable to reach consensus on processed cheese would not harm New Zealand trade. But it could mean tariffs would be placed on processed "low cheese" products by countries that want to protect their own "high cheese" products.

The committee's final meeting would not be without some success, however. A standard was expected to be set for fermented milk, a popular health product in Asia, Dr Hathaway said.

Fermented milk, often a yoghurt and fruit juice mix, claimed to have beneficial bacteria for gut health. The standard described what could be in it and how it could be described.

Over its life, the committee had been able to agree on 40 standards, half them around the composition and labelling of cheese varieties, such as common New Zealand ones like cheddar, edam and gouda.

"We haven't addressed all the issues around milk products, but we've done all the major ones.

"What is still out there will come down to bilateral agreements," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News