Whey to go! Cheesemakers celebrate win in legal fight to keep using raw milk
Food standards chiefs back down in face of crowdfunded campaign launched by artisan producers
Five Scottish cheesemakers have successfully challenged the legality of Food Standards Scotland inspection and enforcement guidance for the production of raw milk cheese.
As a result of the crowdfunded action, the FSS and the Scottish Food Enforcement Liaison Committee (SFELC) has published new guidance, in line with World Health Organisation and EU recommen
dations – leading to the advocate representing the cheesemakers to drop the action as a full judicial review was no longer required.
Delighted with the outcome of the ruling, the producers said that these significant changes to the guidance will “secure the future of raw milk cheese production in Scotland’.
The five businesses, Errington Cheese, Isle of Mull Cheese, Galloway Farmhouse Cheese, Cambus O’may Cheese Co. and Finlay’s Farm Ltd, launched a Crowdjustice campaign in February receiving more than the initial £15,000 needed in funds for legal fees. This allowed for the preparation and submission of a potential judicial review.
They believed the FSS’S guidance was contrary to the EU’S industry guidance and best practice and that it would make raw cheese production in Scotland unviable.
Initially requesting a suspension of the guidance to enable changes to be considered, the group sought legal support and lodged a petition.
Food Standards Scotland also abandoned its motion to seek expenses from the cheesemakers.
Selina Cairns, director at Errington Cheese, said: “I want to say a huge thanks to those who have supported us over the past few months. This has been a stressful period for everyone and we really couldn’t have done it without the public support. It’s a massive relief.
“We don’t believe that Food Standards Scotland would have made any changes to the document had we not gone ahead with the judicial review.
“We’re extremely hopeful that this is the last chapter of what has been an incredibly hard couple of years, with actions from Food Standards Scotland having detrimental impacts on our business and sales.
“We look forward to getting back on track with production and sales, with the hope that we can begin to rebuild our local workforce.”