The California Department of Food and Agriculture is celebrating its 100^th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. Throughout the year this blog will feature a number of items to commemorate this milestone. Today we continue with the Centennial Reflections video series, featuring CDFA employees remembering their histories, and the agency’s.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is celebrating its 100^th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. Throughout the year this blog will feature a number of items to commemorate this milestone. Today we continue with the Centennial Reflections video series, featuring CDFA employees remembering their histories, and the agency’s.

The creation of good cheese involves a complex dance between milk and bacteria. In a quite literal sense, playing the right tune while this dance unfolds changes the final product’s taste, a new study shows. Denis Balibouse and Cecile Mantovani at Reuters report that hip-hop, for example, gave the cheese an especially funky flavor, while cheese that rocked out to Led Zeppelin or relaxed with Mozart had milder zests.

Last September, Swiss cheesemaker Beat Wampfler and a team of researchers from the Bern University of Arts placed nine 22-pound wheels of Emmental cheese in individual wooden crates in Wampfler’s cheese cellar. Then, for the next six months each cheese was exposed to an endless, 24-hour loop of one song using a mini-transducer, which directed the soundwaves directly into the cheese wheels.

The “classical” cheese mellowed to the sounds of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The “rock” cheese listened to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” An ambient cheese listened to Yello’s “Monolith,” the hip-hop cheese was exposed to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Jazz (We’ve Got)” and the techno fromage raved to Vril’s “UV.” A control cheese aged in silence, while three other wheels were exposed to simple high, medium and low frequency tones.

According to a press release, the cheese was then examined by food technologists from the ZHAW Food Perception Research Group, which concluded that the cheese exposed to music had a milder flavor compared to the non-musical cheese. They also found that the hip-hop cheese had a stronger aroma and stronger flavor than other samples.

The cheeses were then sampled by a jury of culinary experts during two rounds of a blind taste test. Their results were similar to the research group’s conclusions and the hip-hop cheese came out on top.

“The bacteria did a good job,” Wampfler tells SwissInfo. The experts said A Tribe Called Quest’s cheese was “remarkably fruity, both in smell and taste, and significantly different from the other samples.”

The tasting, however, was subjective and not everyone thought hip-hop was the cheesiest. “My favorite cheese was that of Mozart, I like Mozart but it’s not necessarily what I listen to… maybe a sweet little classical music it does good to the cheese,” chef and jury member Benjamin Luzuy tells Agence-France Presse.

So, are the differences all in the taster’s heads? It’s hard to say at this point, but the fromage will now go through a biomedical survey to see if there are actual differences in the structure of the cheeses.

When the experimented started, Wampfler—who is a veterinarian by day and cheesemaker in his free time—told the AFP last year that in his experiences all sorts of things can affect the flavor and texture of a cheese.

“Bacteria is responsible for the formation of the taste of cheese, with the enzymes that influence its maturity,” he says. “I am convinced that humidity, temperature or nutrients are not the only things that influence taste. Sounds, ultrasounds or music can also have physical effects.”

Michael Harenberg, director of the music program at Bern University of the Arts says he was skeptical of the whole project when Wampfler first approached him. “Then we discovered there is a field called sonochemistry that looks at the influences of sound waves, the effect of sound on solid bodies.”

It turns out that Wampfler was rooting for the hip-hop cheese to win all along. Now, reports Reuters, he and his collaborators want to expose cheese to five to ten different types of hip-hop to see if it has similar effects.

Wampfler also tells the AFP that he can see marketing cheeses based on the music they matured too. Already, he says people have called requesting cheese that has listened to the blues, Balkan music and ACDC.

Link to article

Now is the time to consider an internship at CDFA, and with it an opportunity to be part of an agency that supports one of the greatest food production systems in the world.

With 80,500 farms and ranches, California agriculture is a $50 billion dollar industry that generates at least $100 billion in related economic activity. CDFA’s mission is, “To serve the citizens of California by promoting and protecting a safe, healthy food supply; and enhancing local and global agricultural trade through efficient management, innovation, and sound science; with a commitment to environmental stewardship.”

CDFA strives to support innovation and agricultural diversity. One way to support these efforts is through working with future generations of agriculturalists. The CDFA Internship Program is designed for college students of all majors and backgrounds who have an interest in agriculture, California government, and public service. Internships are for students looking to gain a better understanding of California agriculture, as well as the role CDFA has among the state’s agricultural systems. Internships are available in a variety of divisions within CDFA.

Internships are available to students year-round and generally last 10-16 weeks. Students should be available for at least 8 — 10 hours per week, up to 30 hours per week, depending on the internship offered.

Prerequisites may include:

• Enrolled in an accredited U.S. College
• Good academic standing
• At least 18 years of age

Full article: “CDFA Internship Program”

USDA secretary Sonny Perdue is making available an additional $45 million to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and its partners to address the ongoing virulent Newcastle disease (VND) outbreak in Southern California.  This funding will allow APHIS and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to strengthen their joint efforts to stop the spread of this disease and prevent it from affecting additional commercial flocks. 

“Virulent Newcastle disease is a serious concern for our nation’s poultry industry and we need to step up our response in order to keep this disease out of additional commercial flocks,” said Greg Ibach, USDA Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.  “At this point, the trade impacts of this outbreak are minimal because APHIS has negotiated agreements with many countries to promote the principle of regionalization, or limiting trade restrictions to areas affected by outbreaks rather than entire States or the entire country.  However, if VND were to spread into additional commercial flocks – in California or other states – the impacts could increase substantially.”

“I want to thank Secretary Perdue and USDA for making additional resources available to fight this highly-contagious poultry disease,” said Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.  “The strong partnership between USDA and CDFA, local government, industry and homeowners is the united stand we need.   With everyone’s full effort we can eradicate this disease, just like we did in 2003.”

It is vital that USDA and CDFA put more responders on the ground to increase surveillance and detection in backyard flocks; ensure rapid euthanasia of likely-exposed birds; implement wider mandatory surveillance on commercial farms and help ensure that they are enhancing biosecurity in light of the increased threat; and increase outreach to backyard flock owners. 

USDA will also work with CDFA on several steps to strengthen the response and prevent additional disease spread.  These include:

• Ensuring any poultry, poultry products and poultry materials that move out of affected areas will be done with a permit;
• Enforcing the quarantines and mandatory fallow periods for backyard locations to ensure the disease is eliminated before new birds are allowed onsite; and
• Rapid euthanasia of likely-exposed birds.

The $45 million USDA will use for these efforts is being reallocated from emergency funds transferred to USDA, but not used during the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak response in 2014-2015.  USDA will routinely reassess this plan and readjust tactics as needed. The goal remains to rid Southern California of VND, while protecting the rest of the country’s poultry from the disease. 

Link to CDFA’s VND information page