Aidan Gardiner of The New York Times has the story on the FDA's effort to shut down the Mexicali Cheese Corporation in Queens, New York, after the company's repeated failure to clean up their operation:

The Food and Drug Administration is trying to shutter permanently a cheese factory in Queens whose owners failed to clean up the plant after a potentially deadly bacteria was discovered on more than one occasion, according to the government.

This week, the agency filed suit in Federal District Court in Brooklyn to halt all dairy production at the company, Mexicali Cheese Corporation in Woodhaven, due to what it called a history of unsanitary conditions and its managers’ refusal to change their practices.

Martin at Serious Eats did a great job with this profile of Andante Dairy's Soyoung Scanlan, queen of the cheeses with musical names:

Cheesemaker Soyoung Scanlan isn't just one of the most respected cheesemakers in America. She's become one of the most admired cheesemakers in France, too. Her cheeses are available at many of America's top restaurants and high-end retailers. She's aging traditional French-style cheeses that could compete with some of the best in France.

Not bad for a woman who started her Andante Dairy in Petaluma, California, only 12 years ago.

Her dairy is indeed named for the musical term, as are many of her cheeses. "Andante" is a reflection of the tempo of her cheesemaking and the harmonious flavors of her cheese.

As you may recall, an archaic rule requiring that farmers to respond to milk spills as though they were oil spills surfaced several months ago. The rule has since been disposed of, a fact which President Obama brought up in his State of the Union Address last week. The best part about it was his follow-up spilt milk joke. Check it out:

Although many companies have recently had to downsize or close due to financial problems, one cheese company is planning to expand. Mike North at the Modesto Bee has the story:

Hilmar Cheese Co., a private corporation founded in 1984, plans to add an administration building in a field across August Avenue from its visitor center.

Officials expect the move to generate about 100 jobs in addition to the estimated 770 positions already at the Hilmar facility and 330 positions at the company's Dalhart, Texas, site.

The Hilmar area has the lowest unemployment rate in Merced County at 9.9 percent — much of that because of Hilmar Cheese.

Avery Aames has just put out her third cheese shop mystery book, and this one's called Clobbered by Camembert. This thrilling tale follows Lost and Fondue and The Long Quiche Goodbye. For those who are unfamiliar, we strongly recommend that you give these books a read:

Charlotte Bessette--proprietor of Fromagerie Bessette, affectionately known in Providence, Ohio, as the Cheese Shop--is busy setting up her tent for the town's Winter Wonderland faire, where she'll offer fine wines and scrumptious cheeses. In the midst of the preparations, Charlotte meets an old friend of her mother, Kaitlyn Clydesdale, who has come back to Providence with plans to start a new honeybee farm.

Via the 'pubs, here's a story on a previously-obscure Italian dessert wine that's taken the US by storm, starting with the hip-hop world:

Hip-hop singer Drake, in his song "Do It Now," gives it a shout-out. It's also the wine Kanye West orders for special parties. And it's the wine Real Housewife of Atlanta NeNe Leakes has just started selling under the label Miss Moscato.

Until a few years ago, the ancient Italian wine could have been described as obscure — what one wine expert called "a little backwater grape." Now the words used about the rise of moscato are "breathtaking," "phenomenal," "insane." Industry watchers say they've never seen anything like it.

Read the full story here.

Rachel Herz of the Wall Street Journal is writing about disgust, and what triggers it. Cheese tops the charts for Asians:

Most children get their first lessons in disgust around the time that they are potty trained. After that, the triggers of disgust are quickly acquired from the responses and rules of parents, peers and, most importantly, the wider culture. One of the best places to look for the vast differences in what is or is not considered disgusting in different parts of the globe is food, especially distinctive foods, like every culture's favorite fermented dish.

New Zealand nationalists are worried that the country's recent sale of 16 dairy farms to China will open the floodgates to foreign ownership. NPR has the story:

Chinese investors are buying New Zealand farmland for the first time as economic ties with the Asian powerhouse grow ever deeper, sparking considerable anxiety in a country where livelihoods are heavily reliant on agriculture.

New Zealand's government Friday approved the sale of 16 dairy farms to a company controlled by the Shanghai Pengxin Group, run by wealthy property developer Jiang Zhaobai. Pengxin hasn't revealed how much it is paying but says its total investment will be more than 200 million New Zealand dollars ($164 million).

The Bovine interviews one of the men behind the raw milk vending machines that have sprung up in Europe over the last year:

The Bovine: Tell me a bit about your business with raw milk dispensing machines.

Konrad: Our company produce raw milk vending machine. Our machines are dedicated for this product in all aspects: milk dispenser, empty bottles dispenser etc. Our machines follows all UE and hygienic standards. We produce our machines in many versions to be most suitable for our customers. We all the time develop our product. Our newest idea is an additional module where is possible selling of fresh eggs, cottage cheese, sausages etc.

The Bovine: How did you personally get started in this business?

Max McCalman's got news for everyone about lactose in cheese. Mainly that most cheeses don't have lactose in them at all:

One of the most frequently-asked questions we receive is which of our cheeses have no lactose. We are happy to reply that all of our cheeses are virtually lactose-free. Having read this, you may wonder how we do that: sell lactose-free cheeses.