Good morning Raleigh Convention Center! Someone finally had the amazing idea to offer ALL the cultured dairy products like Creme Fraiche, yogurt, ricotta, and other mild less-than-solid competition entries for saturday breakfast (now called “Breakfast of Champions” because the awards are nestled with the winners, just like at the Festival), instead of presenting them with all the cheeses at the Festival of Cheese on Saturday night.

Wow! Instead of looking at them as the lonely girl/boy at the evening party (because they’re so awkward to sample when you’re standing up holding a glass of beer or wine), they are the Star of the Morning and you can really appreciate a selection of them for breakfast. I had tastes of as much as I could and wanted to go back for more, except I was at the breakfast to network with other cheese guilds around the US.
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Dawn broke over the horizon this morning like a nicked yolk in a frying pan; although the humidity is visible, the temps, especially once the sun goes down, have been quite tolerable.

My first session sounds like a snoozer, but it dove into the white hot center of cheese regulation that is currently shifting like the beach during a hurricane. The panel for “Working Proactively to Mitigate Risks and Promote Cheese Safety” consisted of Dr. Cathrine Donnelly from VIAC, Cathe Strange from Whole Foods Market, Dr. Obianuju Nsofor from the FDA, and moderated by Bill Graves of the Dairy Research Institute. It began with a very discouraging presentation from Dr. Nsofor about the FDA’s take on their re-evaluation of dairy safety issues, specifically around the 60 day rule, which was adopted in the 1960s on the basis of assumptions (not scientific study) about pathogens viability in a high acid, low moisture environment. Better late than never, the FDA is now scientifically testing those assumptions, and they have not been bourn out, specifically with higher moisture cheeses aged over 60 days.
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