Sally Jackson closes down: with new regulation, how can small cheesemakers stay in business?
I just heard that that Sally Jackson, owner and cheesemaker of Sally Jackson Cheeses in the Okanagan Highlands, WA has announced she is selling her animals and her business.
This comes after a recent recall of her cheeses, compounded by a separate demand that her business meet Grade A Dairy standards - something not normally required of cheesemakers making aged cheeses.
This is such a tough way to go out. Sally was such an incredible trailblazer for cheesemaking in the Pacific NW. On many levels this makes me so, so sad. I first started buying cheese from Sally back in 1998, while working at Cowgirl Creamery, after a two year 'courtship' to persuade her that we were a worthy customer! During that time we spoke about every two weeks conversing about life on the farm and, at that point, I hadn't even tasted her cheese! Finally (and unannounced), a box of cheese arrived, beautifully packed in clean straw and with a heart-warming note. Obviously, we had passed some invisible test! Our conversations remained regular over the last 12 years, despite no longer being a cheese buyer.
In the big picture, the thing that strikes as so ironic about all of this, is that these iconic and hard working souls who are such an inspiration to many others wanting to get into cheesemaking are being regulated out of business.
Don't get me wrong, I'm entirely in favor of sanitation and intelligent regulation, but there just seems to be so little hard-core advocacy or advice for small-scale cheesemakers when they get into trouble and its the hand-holding that they really need. Times are changing, but some people need help to change and Sally is an example of that.
How can we prevent this kind of thing from happening again?
Kate
Below: Sally Jackson's "Renata" (named after one of Sally's three cows), sheep's milk cheese wrapped in chestnut leaves, and goat's milk cheese wrapped in vine leaves:
That is very sad, soon we
That is very sad, soon we won't have any natural food. Our children wouldn't even know the taste of cheese made of milk. It is terrible if you think about it...
Robin @ yachts in dubrovnik.
Your Renata looks very good
Your Renata looks very good and I bet it's delicious! I would like to try it. Hope you'll share other interesting recipes. I've found some interesting recipes too when I was sailing turkey and I am willing to share them.
Sanitation Issues
It is always sad to see a small cheese maker go under, but there were many issues leading up to this, and honestly it's suprising that there have not been more cases of E. Coli linked to her cheese. Cheese makers like this give the industry a bad name. If you read the FDA report that was done before the E. Coli outbreak even occured you will not feel sorry for her.
http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/foodborne-illness-outbreaks/fda-finds-i...
Here is where the E. Coli came from:
The owner wore manure soiled clothing during production of cheese, handling of utensils and direct handling of finished product. The owner was observed kneeling in fresh cow manure, while milking a cow outside, then brushed pants with a bare hand and was later observed standing over a bucket of drained curd in the cheese room with the soiled pants coming into direct contact with the edge of the bucket.
-and-
The hand washing sink's drain pipe and water supply lines were disconnected. Also, the two-compartment processing room sink was not set up for hand washing and there were no towels or soap available at either sink.
Cheese Makers Red Tape
Thanks Kate for criticle information brought to light through your Blog. Speaking as an avid cheese lover, Culture subscriber and "hopefully", future Artisan Cheesemaker. Just what we do know, as people who depend on the small scale cheese business for a livelyhood, is scary enough to cause sleepless nights. But now, it makes one think after spending 200,00 thousand hours planning and researching the new business venture, can I afford to invest $200,000 and not get anything out of it? Looks like there's another 100,000 hours of research ahead. And thanks to all of the Culture readers who have commented on this story, their added info is going to be very helpful in my next 100,000 hours
new creamery
This is so sad and a bit frightening. We just opened our creamery in Western WA last fall. It cost us over $200k to get to that point.
Just prior to Sally, Estrella Family Creamery had the headlines.
We are heartbroken, and nervous.
We have been over and over our processes to make sure we are taking every action possible to provide a SAFE high-quality product... but that doesn't keep us from wondering if we just spent $200k to paint a target on our backs. It may sound a tad paranoid, but like most farmers, the loss of our investment without the ability to recoup it through our labors would not cripple our farm, it would kill it.
It is a new era for cheesemakers. Gone are the days where caring for your animals and making fantastic cheeses was enough. Now you MUST be a master of mounds of paperwork and government systems too. It is a lot to ask.
The next time you taste some delicious product from a small family farm, I encourage you to consider the hard work they've done to provide it to you didn't stop at managing the soil, crop or critter.
I appreciate your writing
I appreciate your writing here, Kate. Being an advocate for small-scale cheese makers and farmers is certainly the path less travelled. It puts you as a target for both big government and big business. I have learned this through first hand experience.
In Wisconsin we are lucky that trailblazers like Mary Falk, Anne Topham, and Scott Trautman have been able to avoid being totally driven out of business by the powers that be (though they have certainly tried on numerous occassions to put Mary and Scott out of business.)
It is only through the tireless (and thankless) work of grassroots activists that we have continued to make progress on some of these issues. There are a variety of groups like Family Farm Defenders, the Weston A Price Foundation (along with the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a project of WAPF) which have been instrumental in doing the work of advocating for embattled farmers and cheese makers.
http://familyfarmers.org/
http://www.westonaprice.org/
Currently, there is an informal group of national leaders in the raw milk movement coming together to establish voluntary standards and help educate small artisan producers on food safety. The blog of David Gumpert (author of "The Raw Milk Revolution") is a major hub of discussion and debate on some of these issues:
http://www.thecompletepatient.com/
@Christine - This is really
@Christine - This is really great news. Please let me know how Culture can help get the word out there to cheesemakers and others to help promote this kind of program.
Kate Arding
Founder, Culture magazine
@Jeanne, agreed! In addition
@Jeanne, agreed! In addition to the excellent programming from DBIC, in February/March 2011, the American Cheese Society (www.cheesesociety.org) will launch a first-ever Cheesemaker Virtual Winter Workshop series with four sessions over the course of 4 weeks. Sessions focus on key areas of HACCP, GMP's and regulatory updates with presenters from Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese and the Center for Dairy Research. Sessions will be free for members and to non-members for a nominal fee.
Grade A requirements
This article makes me sad, and reminds me of when we made the move from MN to KY in '03. At the time in MN we were allowed to sell as much as ten gallons of goat milk directly to the consumer (as long as they brought their own clean container.)
When we moved to KY we were dismayed to find that in order to sell any goat's milk at all we had to be licensed for a Grade B or Grade A dairy. I had the state send me the requirements, the paperwork was three inches thick, and would have required an investment of almost $20,000 to build the milk parlour to match.
At that time we reluctantly sold our dairy goat herd, as what had been an almost self-supporting livestock project became a hugely expensive hobby. It broke my heart to have to dump milk onto the mulch pile, as we had much too much to consume ourselves, but couldn't even sell it for pet use!
Someone who understands small farm production needs to implement laws so that we can make and sell products locally without having to incur such huge fees. I feel for Sally, been there, done that. Very sad.
Agreed
You see commentary like this on cheesemaking groups all the time. People don't know where to start or even find their local code official or code information. Our few organizations seem to be oriented more toward marketing the product than helping the cheesemaker set up and run a viable business so they can get that product to market.
I am so sorry to hear that Sally Jackson's shutting down. There's nothing quite like digging through the straw to find out what she sent you.
HACCP Seminars Offered to Small Artisan Wisconsin Dairies
The industry needs to provide more training to small artisan cheesemakers on sanitation and recall procedures. In Wisconsin, a non-profit organization called the Dairy Business Innovation Center is offering a series of 1-day HACCP workshops for farmstead dairies. The workshop includes a one-day follow-up visit to the farm to help implement the plan. More info here: http://www.dbicusa.org/press_releases.php
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