Eat To Live: Food safety giants battle

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- With globalization bringing us foods from places we probably couldn't find on the map, it's a relief to know that there are official bodies out there whose job is to stay vigilant over food safety.

But a case has just occurred in Britain that should raise alarm bells in other nations.

A $15.6 million-a-year dairy farm employing 26 people has just been closed down by European Union regulators for what appears to be a reluctance to admit to a mistake of their own.

Inspectors from the European Commission's Food and Veterinary Office paid a visit to Bowland Dairies, which makes curd cheese for use in quiches and flans. According to a report in Britain's Sunday Telegraph, they misinterpreted one of the documents they checked as part of the inspection. As a result, they slapped a "rapid alert notice" upon the business for breaking EU regulations on antibiotic residues, forcing its immediate closure.

Britain's Food Standards Agency dispatched its own inspectors who strongly disagreed that the dairy's products were unsafe. But they did recommend a couple of minor alterations in production procedure.

Then we get into schoolyard bickering.

The EU commission repeated its claim against the milk. The FSA responded that the EU appeared to have misunderstood the type of milk in question and that it certainly wasn't contaminated. Then scurrilous stories began to circulate that the farm had been selling tainted cheese made from cleaning fluid and floor sweepings.

So the dairy took the commission to court. When the judge had weighed the case scientifically and legally, he came down on the side of the dairy and ordered the commission to withdraw its accusations.

But the commission refused to give up, despite being instructed to do so twice. In fact, it attempted to add a statement to its court order that it had lost the case on a mere technicality, but the judge ordered this removed.

So the FVO went back to the dairy for another inspection. Although they spent two days there, they couldn't find anything wrong. Nevertheless, the commission asked its standing committee to approve its decision to ban the dairy from trading. None of the committee was informed of the court's judgment, nor were they shown any technical evidence. They voted for a total ban.

Then the commission turned its attention to the FSA, saying it would ensure Britain's food safety agencies were fined for not protecting consumers against contaminated milk -- totally ignoring the court's judgment that the milk was clean.

Even uglier, the commission warned Britain it was dispatching its inspectors to execute a full audit of Britain's entire $9.75 billion-a-year cheese industry.

No surprise, then, that with a threat of such magnitude the FSA caved. It pushed through an immediate instruction that curd cheese from Bowland should not be allowed onto the market. In British history, this is apparently a first.

You may wonder why you should worry about this. With markets now global, in every nation public agencies as well as independent manufacturers keep an eye on events taking place in prime exporting countries.

This British debacle appears to be a disgraceful episode that should mortify both the European Commission and Britain's Food Standards Agency. It is shameful that a government agency should not have the power to stand up to threats. If this is how vulnerable they are, how can the public feel properly represented and truly protected by them?

The recent U.S. scare over contaminated spinach revealed the number of inspectors available to the Food and Drug Administration to ensure food safety as laughable. Without adequate resources, the underfunded FDA may be tempted to make blanket judgments that catch some food processors in a net in which they don't deserve to be trapped.

Bodies like the FSA, Britain's independent food watchdog, and the U.S. FDA need to be able to stand up and fight for or against individual or megalithic enterprises without fear and with teeth.

With the holiday season coming up, here's a recipe that uses curd cheese between a dough base and lid in the traditional Romanian Christmas cake.

-- Romanian Cheese Tart

-- 7 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature

-- 5 ounces sugar plus 5 ounces sugar for the dough

-- 18 ounces curd cheese or half-and-half cream cheese and ricotta cheese

-- 3 eggs

-- 10 tablespoons warm milk

-- pinch of salt

-- grated zest of 1 lemon, half for the dough, half for the filling

-- juice of 1 lemon

-- 1 teaspoon vanilla

-- handful raisins

-- ½ cup brandy or rum, warmed

-- ½ teaspoon baking soda

-- 14-16 ounces flour

-- Preheat the oven to 400 F.

-- In a bowl cream the butter with 5 ounces of sugar till light and fluffy, then add the yolk of one egg.

-- Add the grated lemon zest and vanilla to the warm milk then, alternating with ½ cups of the flour, mix them bit by bit to the butter and sugar mixture, along with the baking soda dissolved in some lemon juice.

-- Beat the egg white to stiff peaks and fold it into the mixture. Add more flour if necessary to make a firm but pliant dough ball that isn't sticky.

-- Slice the dough in two and roll out each in a circle about ½ inch thick, and line a 9-inch greased tart tin with one.

-- Soak the currants in the warm rum.

-- Stir 5 ounces sugar and one beaten egg into the curd cheese, then fold in the drained currants, lemon zest and vanilla.

-- Pour the filling into the dough; cover with the second crust, folding the edges over and pinching them to seal, then brush with a wash of one beaten egg.

-- Bake till gold, about 30-40 minutes, cool and serve.