Help! possible contamination?

[lakoivu]

Help!
I have just recently gotten into making cheese and have been using my fridge crisper as my cheese cave until I can figure out a permanent solution – this week I had two little cheeses aging in there (salting/drying) when a defrosting bag of chicken stew on an upper shelf leaked all over the fridge! (raw chicken, yikes) It didn't get on the cheeses or the mats but I did find a little of the liquid on the bottom of the crisper under my little drying trellis

I evacuated the cheeses to a little cooler, but should I throw them away? or do you think the salt/rind would have been enough to keep off unwanted ecoli etc?

Advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Stinky]

If you're sure it didn't get onto the cheese, I wouldn't be overly concerned.

[Al Lewis]

As there is no way of knowing if they were contaminated I would go with the safe guess and say they did and throw them away.

[lakoivu]

A thought that occurred to me just now – I read somewhere that aging for 60 days or more was a means of making sure cheese was not contaminated, since bacteria wouldn't survive that long in the low ph environment/salt/etc., but now that I'm trying to read up on it online it looks like there is some doubt about the accuracy of that FDA rule? thoughts?

[Stinky]

Do any of the bacteria in raw chicken stew transfer by air?

[Scott Wallen]

I would keep it in the crisper and monitor it, see if it starts growing feathers!

[Stinky]

Again, if you're sure it wasn't touched by it, I can't really see how it would infect the cheese. Proceed with it, but carefully, and sanitize the rest of your fridge.

[Al Lewis]

A thought that occurred to me just now – I read somewhere that aging for 60 days or more was a means of making sure cheese was not contaminated, since bacteria wouldn't survive that long in the low ph environment/salt/etc., but now that I'm trying to read up on it online it looks like there is some doubt about the accuracy of that FDA rule? thoughts?

  That only applies to the bacteria in milk.  Raw chicken fluids can kill you and you do not know if they were on your cheese.  You did however, find it under your cheese, the assumption being that it had to get onto your cheese to get under it.  You do as you like but I would toss it.  My life and well-being are worth a lot more than a few small cheeses.

[lakoivu]

That only applies to the bacteria in milk.  Raw chicken fluids can kill you and you do not know if they were on your cheese.  You did however, find it under your cheese, the assumption being that it had to get onto your cheese to get under it.  You do as you like but I would toss it.  My life and well-being are worth a lot more than a few small cheeses.

I am inclined to toss it just to be safe, but just to clarify the cheese was on a type of pedestal/trellis/drying rack in the middle of the crisper (about 4" up from the bottom and 8" from all sides) and was not directly in contact with the fluid which trickled down one side of the crisper to the bottom. This totally does not need a diagram but I am in a diagram-making mood so I've attached one here.

Not that any of this matters if it's transmitted through the air. Anyway, will likely toss it to be safe... just a shame to lose my first cheeses.

[Stinky]

I still do not think it could go through the air, especially at cool temperatures. You could email Pav, who would probably know, but I'd keep it for now. I suspect they'll be fine.

[lakoivu]

Actually that's what my (plant) pathologist boyfriend is saying too...

[Sailor Con Queso]

The lactic bacteria in the cheese will out-compete any casual contaminants.

[TimT]

Wouldn't worry.

Maybe use the cheeses in cooking, which would definitely kill off any possible infection that the lacto-bacilli don't deal with.