If you’re a cheese lover like me, you are well aware that for the last couple of years, the FDA has required all imported cheeses sold in the U.S. to be made from pasteurized milk, even if they have been made for centuries using raw milk to no ill effect. It’s had an impact on the quality of imported cheese that is made by large industrial concerns abroad (which means it has also affected cheese quality in Europe as well). Of course, the real high-end cheesemongers like Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and Murray’s in New York, still manage to obtain and sell unpasteurized raw-milk cheeses, openly flaunting the restriction, but if you are accustomed to buying cheese from just about anyone else, you have not had The Real Thing in a while.
Domestically-made cheese has always been subject to the pasteurization rules. That’s not to say you can’t buy artisanal raw-milk cheese made in this country, but any cheese product sold across state lines has to be pasteurized. By and large, this hasn’t been a huge issue for the American consumer, because Americans don’t like “real” cheese. Americans have been acculturated to like bland cheeses, and cheeses that had their origins in stronger-flavored varieties have been engineered to have less flavor.
Via growabrain, here’s an article from American Heritage Magazine which explains how J. L. Kraft basically invented the market for cheese in the United States by convincing Americans that second-grade cheese, cheese blends, and “cheese-like food” were worth eating.
The restrictions on imported cheese allow for raw milk cheese that is aged for more than 60 days. This same restriction applies to cheeses made in the U.S.
Thanks for the additional information.