Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any (1) health benefits, and (2) health hazards, of eating unpasteurised cheddar cheese, and its by-product whey butter.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), has policy responsibility for food safety, including Raw Drinking Milk (RDM). A Risk Assessment was conducted on RDM by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food in 2018 and considered by the FSA Board that year. The conclusion was that the risk from RDM is not so unacceptable as to justify removing the right of adult consumers to choose to drink it. However, to protect public health and balance consumer choice and business growth, improvements to the controls applied by Food Business Operators were required and have now been implemented.

There has been no assessment made of the health benefits or hazards of consuming unpasteurised cheddar cheese or whey butter, and no assessment made of the health benefits of consuming untreated raw cow’s milk.