[smithycraft]

Hi

I'm new here and had a question about selling home made goat's cheese on a small scale.

I just wondered if there was anybody who sells their home made cheeses in Scotland.  I currently make my cheese with raw milk but I know that it's illegal to sell raw milk or raw milk products here.

I am considering getting a pasteuriser but most of the ones within my price bracket seem to be marked for "home use only".

If anyone has any experience or advice I would be most grateful.

Sharon

[Dan]

Hello Sharon, welcome to the forums. 

No experience or advice, but we've got two Shetlands calving in the next two months and we're starting to think about the same thing.

We're in Scotland too - in Angus. Whereabouts are you?

Dan

[smithycraft]

Hi Dan

Nice to meet you.  Good luck with the Shetlands.  We have Dexters which we had plans to milk, but it never quite worked out, they are stroppy beasts.  However, they do taste good. 

We are up near Fraserburgh.

Sharon

[robert waddell]

the best one to ask is Humphrey Eddington  he makes his own cheese and also took on the might of the council fought them and won his address is there on goggle   it is a blue cheese he makes

[robert waddell]

lanark blue is made from unpasteurised ewes milk and sold to cheese lovers if you goggle lanark blue it tells you everything

[smithycraft]

Thanks for that, I had a read through his website and it's very interesting.  He does indeed sell cheese from unpasteurised milk which has been illegal here since 1985 I believe, but he seems to have his own laboratory where it is regularly tested.

I don't think I'm at that stage just yet

[Hermit]

Now I may be wrong but a Lady in Lerwick makes and sells cheese from home. She sells soft cheese to hotels who use it straight away. Because it is a soft cheese and used straight away she does not have to meet all the criteria other cheese producers do, that is what I have been told by a cheese producer in my village anyway. What those criteria are I dont know but what I am trying to say is there must be different regs for home producers. Not a lot of help but you can look in to it.

[smithycraft]

Thanks Hermit, that's the sort of thing I had in mind.  I shall probably contact my local EHO and see what they say.  The problem is once they start bombarding me with rules and regs, it may well put me off even trying.

[robert waddell]

Humphrey's local EHO  took him to court and he fought back it just about ruined him with costs but he won and he was compensated for his time and losses     there are not many people that can lay claim to what he done
at the time it made it to the news channels and national papers    i would contact him first before your EHO 

[smithycraft]

I have had a phone conversation with my local EHO and he is coming to see me in the not too distant future to discuss what I need to do if I want to sell my cheeses.

Apparently making soft cheese is a high risk business and I can't do it from my home, I need "manufacturing premises".  We were planning some sort of dairy, so it's not too much of a shock.

I'll find out more when I get to meet him and if anyone is interested I'll let you know how I get on.

Sharon

[HappyHippy]

The EHO is likely to be looking for a room or rooms that are clean (and easily cleaned) so smooth ceilings, nothing hanging on the walls, industrial vinyl or painted concrete floor. Units and fridges etc should be easily moved out for cleaning under/behind. The area behind your work surfaces should be washable (but tiles aren't the best because of the grout apparently  ) so something like the plastic cladding you get for showers/wetrooms or a stainless steel splashback would probably work better. Any windows need to be screened to stop flies getting in (likewise doors) You'll need to have a seperate handwash sink (preferably an automatic one to stop cross contamination) and your washing up sink should be double bowled and big enough that your largest pot/container can be completely submerged for disinfection purposes. You'll need to get samples from each batch tested (I've not found out who or how this is done yet  ) but EHO should know for sure, so grill him when he comes  You'll need to do all the standard food hygiene stuff like checking and recording temperatures in fridges etc but it's fairly straighforward stuff really once you break it all down.
It's not completely out of the realms of a home producer I think, especially if you already have a building there and not doing anything else but it's worth doing the costings - you might need to up production to make it pay for itself 
Good luck and let us know how you get on
Karen 

[smithycraft]

Thanks Karen.

I guess I started this process with the notion that I could make a few cheeses with my excess milk and sell them at the gate with our eggs.

Well it's clear that isn't going to happen so if we do decide to proceed any further it will be quite an investment and we shall have to decide whether it's worth it in the long run.

Sharon