Buffalo mozzarella - is it pasteurized?

I just bought some packaged in water buffalo mozzarella. It doesn't say anywhere on it that it has been pasteurized, but I'm somehow doubting that a packaged mozzarella isn't pasteurized. Anyone know for certain?

as my wife is pregnant, these things matter and we've been told that it isn't so she can only eat it when it is cooked. but you may get some other answers

Told by whom? The doctor, who doesn't make cheese, or by the manufacturer? I'm just curious really.

Microbiologist to the rescue...duhduhduh!
First off, no unprocessed cheese is pasteurized and processed cheese is not really cheese. The milk that makes cheese may or may not be pasteurized. The main reason for pasteurization is to simply to kill off the detrimental bacteria and unwanted yeast and molds and add your own. They tend to do the same in making beer and wine and anything else that relies on living organisms and a long fermentation process.

Banned in the U.S.A.

The main dangers here are Salmonella and the bad ETEC (Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli). Both are more likely to turn up in raw chicken, raw veggies and undercooked hamburger. Cheese doesn't suffer from bacteria, it suffers from poor preparation and contaminated workers and packers who do suffer from bacteria. Most every food poisoning outbreak that I have ever heard of has been traced back to a contaminated worker except for Salmonella and chicken which tends to go hand in hand.

Know your cheese.

Now, as to whether the cheese you have has had the milk pasteurized or not depends entirely on what brand and manufacturer of the cheese you have. If it is made from cow's milk, it is most likely pasteurized, but even that isn't a 100% guarantee.

And for pregnant women Listeria

But I am still confused in terms of German Milk/dairy packaging.

If it doesn't say "rohmilch" on the package, can one assume the product is pasturized? Because few cheeses have the word "pasteurisiert" on it.

Is there some middle ground between the rohmilch and pasteurisert that I am not aware of, or is labeling as pasteurisiert just not done.

In the US this is just as not an issue as most products are paturized.

I've contacted a few producers directly and not saying on the packaging doesn't necessarily mean one way or another. Best to google the company, phone and ask.

Wow, who knew eating could become so complicated.

I am usually an organic eater only, but I think I will trade in my organic yummy European cheeses, for tasteless American...but all pasturized...cheeses from the ARMY base.

Does buffalo mozzarella contain lactose? i.e. it's not cow's milk, but buffalo's milk I presume..?

Gemini, it only costs the price of a phone call to ask. Why limit yourself if you don't have to?

Every milk product made from raw, unpasteurized milk 'Rohmilch' must be labeled as such, so if it doesn't say Rohmilch on the package it's made from pasteurized milk (Kennzeichnungsverordnung)
Stiftung Warentest tested Mozzarellas in 2005
http://www.stiftung-warentest.de/unternehm...en/1291312.html
no Listeria or salmonella, but coliform bacteria point to not-so -super hygiene standards (though very unlikely to be a health hazard)
Err, and milk from EVERY mammal contains lactose (milk sugar), so it needs processing to make it lactose-free.

I'm just intolerant to cow's milk strangely enough

Maybe it's something else than lactose that you are intolerant to? It seems they both contain the same amount of lactose. But who knows.

Aah thanks Panama, then I'll avoid buffalo mozzeralla too. I just think the doctor didn't think of specifying 'no buffalo milk!' since it's not an every day food

most adults are not able to process the Lactose because their bodies do not produce Lactase (the enzyme) needed to digest Lactose. Its also a ethnic (for lack of better word) thing, meaning some ethnic groups as a whole cannot digest milk products.

Well indeed the intolerance to milk is due to the inability for producing lactase. What I was not aware of it's that it can be a race-group related thing.

@UA Yeah, probably the doctor just wouldn't consider are 'regular' the consumption of other dairy products from, say, buffalo or goat milk. Those are not very usual, I think.

Mostly Asians (in the US sense of the word) and Africans have this problem for some reason. I guess I really am an Asian trapped in a Caucasian's body! I can eat sheep and goat milk cheese which means I can still have feta and stuff on salads. Not all hope is lost!

also Russians have problems with milk (not all, but alot). I am part Native Indian (also lactose intolerant) and the docs figure due to that and my Russian/Slavic/Icelandic background is why I have problems with milk products. I am not lactose intolerant, but actually allergic. I cannot use those tablettes or the lactose free products, they don't help me.

IIRC from things I read on the subject, intolerance/allergy to cows' milk and lactose intolerance are actually two different things.

I rephrase: I'm just intolerant to cow's milk because of the lactose in it.

Aged, hard cheeses are lower in lactose and some have virtually none.


http://www.cabotcheese.com/pressrmten.html

Mmm, cheddar.

(I think fresh mozzarella would be an exception to this rule, based on how it's prepared. http://www.oldworldcheese.com/faq.LactoseIntolerance.htm)

I'm sure I read somewhere that the carriers of the gene for creating lactase originated in the Aryan community of Northern India, and spread with the Indo-Aryan language as the cow-herders migrated over Europe and Asia. Whatever, it must have been a strange day when someone decided to kick a calf away from its mother and suckle on the teat themselves

We all do have the lactase gene producing lactase (otherwise babies would have problems no end), but usually in most mammals and in a large part of the human population lactase production ends with the suckling period, the gene is inactivated. At some stage ( thought to be as recent as 4000 years ago) some part of the human population 'suffered' a gene mutation giving life-long lactase activity, which of course altered their nutrition patterns and gave an evolutionary advantage under certain nutritional circumstances, causing the mutation to spread.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...0&dopt=Abstract


I have a single Q188R mutation. My niece and two nephews have both and are therefore galactosemic. That is why they are sueing the shit out of McDonalds for putting milk products in their food without telling anybody (and asking the company did not help).

I make half the needed enzyme, but that is plenty. My niece and nephews make none.

Lactose intolerance has more to do with the lactase enzyme and the bacteria in your gut. If you can't break down the lactose, then your body doesn't absorb it. Then bad bugs set in and start to ferment the sugar leading to unwanted discomfort and smells. You need acidophulous bacteria to remedy this and a lot of people just don't have it or reduced levels of it. Sweet acidophulous milk was invented for just this purpose. I know this because a friend of the family invented it and I was one of the guniea pigs to taste test it. A lot of formulations were not pleasant to the palate.

Milk allergies are altogether a different story. There your body actually produces antibodies to some absorbed substance that comes from milk. People can be allergic to cow's milk, but be able to drink goat's milk.

I am allergic to milk, and the doc told me I couldn't digest or breakdown the milk protein. I never researched it, as I just know I am better off without milkproducts.

It seems your doctor has made the same mistake that quite a few do in mixing up the terminology.