Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Roquefort, as outlined in an opinion piece in the Adelaide Advertiser by former member, Christopher Pyne, Roquefort is the royalty of cheese in the world made from raw unpasteurised sheep milk—milk of the special Lacaune sheep breed, native to the south of France, and matured in caves, no less. My former colleague and self-confessed cheese elitist, Mr Christopher Pyne, has increased the profile of this non-issue in his Advertiser article. He raises his concerns about people consuming the mould that creates the stinking blue-green streaks in Roquefort. I note the mould in question is actually a penicillin—a widespread fungus that's used in most of our blue cheese. It is not the mould that is the food safety risk of Roquefort cheese; as mentioned earlier, it's the raw milk that Rockford is made from. Untreated raw milk can grow listeria. It's managed the risk, so 'the fixer' can stand down.