[News from Members] Advocating for raw milk benefits in France:
"Le Livre Blanc", a scientific review of benefits and risks of cheese consumption highlighting the role of microbiodiversity
This project launched by the Raw Milk Foundation two years ago finally comes to an end and a prestigious one. Indeed, the results of this 150 pages review of around 2 500 scientific publications will be presented officially in the French Academy of Medicine in Paris, 14th October 2024.
The idea came up from professionals following a severe public campaign that resulted from E.coli STEC outbreaks. As a result, since 2019, some manufactures add on their labels: “This cheese is made from raw milk. Fragile populations, including young children, are advised not to eat it”. To seize the controversy, a collective of institutes and associations of artisan cheese sector decided to rebalance the debate by looking at objective arguments in favour of the consumption of raw milk. Then the idea of the Livre Blanc was born: an objective scientific work based on the most recent research, describing both risk and benefits of the microbes biodiversity present in cheese, on equal terms.
The originality of this project was that the PhD in charge of the writing, Stéphane Miszczycha, was peer-reviewed by a diverse group of researchers, engineers, technicians, cheesemakers and dairy traders. IDELE, a supporting member of FACEnetwork was a key partner of this project while FNEC and ANPLF were part of the review committee among other members of the Raw Milk Foundation.
The official presentation taking place in the Académie de Médecine will be available online in French. The morning will be a detailed presentation of the book, describing the methodology. A debate around the role of public policy will also take place. Then, the afternoon will be dedicated to the professionals and will focus on how to communicate to the consumers. A debate around the future role of our food diet will also take place. On this last note, the book provides the beginning of an answer by describing the major role of a rich intestinal microbiota for our collective health.
In France this work is very much expected by dairy producers working with raw milk as once again this year, our sector found itself under the spotlight for new cheese STEC outbreaks. This book should bring some nuance to the public debate and make more people aware of some benefits of cheese in facing with some ‘modern’ diseases as allergies or more surprisingly, cardiovascular diseases!
To register to participate to the visioconference and to learn more about the content of the book, follow :