archive from the Wisconsin State Journal
The FDA heard from several other Wisconsin officials, including Gov. Scott Walker, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison. Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross also talked to FDA officials.
Walker said he was pleased with the FDA’s response to Brancel’s letter. He added that the cheese industry is vitally important to the state as well as the nation.
Pocan said he was planning to join members of Congress from Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire, Oregon, Connecticut, New York and California to introduce a bipartisan amendment that would prevent the FDA from banning the use of wood to age cheese.
In a letter to FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg, Baldwin said any changes in the FDA’s cheese board policy would have “serious ramifications for Wisconsin’s world-renown cheese makers who have safely aged their cheeses on wooden boards for generations.”
“Changes in the FDA’s cheese board policy would have serious ramifications for these businesses, and, if the federal government intends to change these policies, cheese makers should be fully integrated into the process,” Baldwin continued.
She later added, “We must not rush ahead with policies that do not fully account for the impact they will have on industry and consumers.”
The complete story here > FDA backs off claims that wooden boards are unsanitary