The debate on blue cheese and feta cheese

snoboardbabe77 · July 2010

I love both of these cheeses. Love them. I usually shop at my upscale grocery store for them (in MN, it is Kowalskis) or the local specialty cheese shop.

I've heard so much controversy over blue cheese and feta (I do not like brie so I don't have info on that).

However, I'd been avoiding these cheeses. I finally talked to 1 cheesemaker, and the cheese expert at Kowalskis (whose studied cheese and cheesemaking for more than 20 years). She told me that U.S. law (despite even what Wikipedia has written) does not allow raw milk cheeses to enter into any grocery store (including base stores that sell to restaurants). It has to fit into one of two categories - 1) pasteurized or 2) aged 90 days. Even on labels for the fancy stuff (not shelved grocery store blue cheese like Blue Cave, Treasure, Atheno -those are safe) but the other stuff - Rogue River, Blue D'Avergnue, etc. etc. (the stuff at like $26.99/lb), it is safe.

Again, consult your doctor and in moderation but for people that had initially freaked (like me), I heard it from the horse's, I mean the cheesemaker's mouths. Enjoy

chusum · July 2010

I heard the same thing. I was hanging out with a friend of mine that pregnant and she asked a server at a restaurant if a dish with all the tasty cheese were pasteurized. He looked at her like an alien and told her of course, and the same thing you just said above and how the FDA doesn't allow unpasteurized cheese to be in main stream grocery stores or restaurants. He said the only places in the US you'll find unpasteurized dairy products is if you go out to a farm before they send it off & eat their cheese (or drink their milk) not available for sale.

carlab44 · July 2010

Actually our local grocery store does sell unpasteurized cheese. And many of the restaurants around here have unpasteurized cheeses as part of their cheese plates. Within our group of friends we've had many dinners when one of us is pregnant and have had the server notify us if/when the cheeses were not pasteurized. We also have farmer's markets where you can buy unpastuerized cheese.

The best way to know at a store or market is to look at the label and see if the cheese says it was made with pasteurized milk. At a restaurant of course ask your server.

Molluskwrangler · July 2010

Almost all cheeses you will get from a grocery store will be pasteurized, you will probably only be able to get unpasteurized from restaurants or cheese shops. As a chef I used to purchase both kinds but it is hard to find the unpasteurized type unless you have a good cheese shop near you.

st.augbride · July 2010

Many of the fancier cheeses (even in grocery stores, especially places like Whole Foods) are unpasteurized, so you really need to read the label. I also recently went to two really nice restaurants and asked the waiters to find out if the cheeses were pasteurized; none of them were, sadly (b/c they looked sooo good!), so I had it without the cheese. It's definitely important to look. However, most commercial fetas and blues are pasteurized. I buy these all the time.

Erin0922 · July 2010

Wikipedia is written by ANYONE, and is never considered a reputable source. I could write an entire page on why you should inject heroin into your baby, and the worst that can happen is my page be "flagged."

On subject, enjoy your cheese!!!! ?

snoboardbabe77 · July 2010

Oh yeah-and as a clarification-in terms of "fancy restaurants" with cheese plates, I figured those were a given b/c they usually state right off the bat "raw milk" and the country or origin. I'd seriously been avoiding these cheeses and now I can eat most of them again!

JustOne · July 2010

You have no idea how happy this makes me. I live by cheese.

pkate98 · July 2010

meh, it's fine to eat them. I have been without guilt.

MrsTotty · July 2010

Just as long as you don't eat more than a fingernail full ...

Ceefome · July 2010

Wouldn't the problem with bleu cheese be the fact that it's veined with MOLD?

Feta is a no brainer, but it's the mold on the bleu cheese that would make me stay away from it, unless it was cooked.

TiffanyTheMom · July 2010

All I can say right now it thank goodness I have a block of Colby cheese in my fridge!! All this cheese talk has made me crave some.

eowynmn · July 2010

LMAO at avoiding these cheeses. Yeah everything is pasturized unless you buy it from a farm/farmers market. Doctors have such huge sticks up their arses.

Anything you can buy at Kowalski's will be the bestest for your baby (from a fellow occasional Kowalski's shopper).

eowynmn · July 2010

MrsTotty:
Just as long as you don't eat more than a fingernail full ...

That's just the feta don'tcha know. With blue cheese you can have a thumb sized portion. lol.

violetvirgo · July 2010

MrsTotty:
Just as long as you don't eat more than a fingernail full ...

does this also apply to ham. i'm skeered my baby will grow a curly tail, but mama wants some piggy!

eowynmn · July 2010

OMG when I went to my 8-9ish week appointment, I told the NP that I was eating deli meat because it was about the only protien I could occasionally stand. She gave me this whole listeria lecture, and I was just like yeah...go away. I argued that listeria is not very common, and she's all 'oh no it is' and I'm all, really so you see it a lot, when was the last time we had cases in MN? She was all, oh I don't know details just don't eat it. Lame.

MrsTotty · July 2010

eowynmn:
OMG when I went to my 8-9ish week appointment, I told the NP that I was eating deli meat because it was about the only protien I could occasionally stand. She gave me this whole listeria lecture, and I was just like yeah...go away. I argued that listeria is not very common, and she's all 'oh no it is' and I'm all, really so you see it a lot, when was the last time we had cases in MN? She was all, oh I don't know details just don't eat it. Lame.

I don't like NPs. At all. I'm sure there are lot's of smart, capable NPs out there ... I have just yet to meet one. If my OB wasn't so frickin' fantastic I would have left my GYN practice a LONG time ago because her NP is so effing stoopid.

MrsTotty · July 2010

PS - to everyone who is confuzzled over the 'fingernail of feta' joke ... please see this post :

https://boards.thenest.com/boards/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=30509655&MsdVisit=1

YWIA

violetvirgo · July 2010

eowynmn:
OMG when I went to my 8-9ish week appointment, I told the NP that I was eating deli meat because it was about the only protien I could occasionally stand. She gave me this whole listeria lecture, and I was just like yeah...go away. I argued that listeria is not very common, and she's all 'oh no it is' and I'm all, really so you see it a lot, when was the last time we had cases in MN? She was all, oh I don't know details just don't eat it. Lame.

i hear ebola is also "common". i'm clearly never going to a zoo with monkeys every again.

TofuMama7 · July 2010

I went our to an upscale restaurant with my DH and friends that serves cheese platters and when I asked about pasteurization the waitress showed me that all raw milk cheeses were clearly marked. Embarrassed

I also read somewhere that there are strict laws in the US, I am a huge Greek food lover so I hope that's true! (The feta I buy at my grocery store is marked pasteurized)

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