It was a clash between the past and the present. The sort of battle one does not expect to make the mainstream news and provoke widespread debate. It was a case that would go on to set some rather important groundwork for small trade (traditional food) artisans. The story begins with Humphrey Errington whose fame came to him by the most unexpected means – means that he most likely wishes he did not have to encounter.

Humphrey Errington

For nearly a decade Errington and his small farm staff had been happily producing Lanark Blue, when one morning his name and the name of his cheese made headlines news. In a damning article entitled, “Killer Cheese”, the author alluded to the idea that Humphrey Errington’s Lanark Blue could possibly poison thousands of people who consumed it. The culprit, the article pointed to? A bacterium by the name of Listeria monocytogenes. While it is true that certain strains of listeria, in large enough doses, can poison people who consume it (sadly death can occur too, something the article was not shy about stating), the likelihood of this occurring actually occurring is exceptionally rare.

Yet the panic ball had been put into motion, and officials from the Clydesdale District Council reported to Errington that they had run tests on a sample of blue cheese from a store in Edinburgh that tested very high for the presence of listeria. He was instructed to pull his cheese from the market immediately. And the Scottish Department of Agriculture and Fisheries issued a four-star food hazard rating across Britain on Lanark Blue.

All of these measures occurred in spite of the fact that no one had yet fallen ill from consuming any of his products. Cheese is thought to be responsible for a scant 0.1% of all British food poisoning cases, with un-pasteurised cheeses at fault for only a few of these occurrences.

Shortly after this media induced bomb was dropped on the Errington farm, a London wholesaler contacted Mr Errington to tell him that he had ran his own independent tests for listeria on the cheese and found none at all. Sparked onward by this discovery Errington began to have his own tests done on the Lanark Blue and the evidence was much the same. Either little or no trace whatsoever of the potentially harmful bacteria could be found.

It was after the findings of his independent tests that Errington informed the government that he was going to put the cheese (which officials had made him agree to pull of the market completely for two months) back out in circulation. This sparked retaliation: in December, Clydesdale District Council environmental health officers seized some £54, 000 worth of his products, claiming that the high counts of listeria present in the cheese made Lanark Blue unfit for human consumption. They also dragged him to court for what would be just one of many court hearings/cases surrounding Lanark Blue cheese.

Despite the fact the court sided with Mr Errington and his cheese, health officials found ways to have him back in court until March of the following year (1995). The court found in favour of Errington on all counts and even ordered that a portion of the legal costs be reimbursed to him, a rather uncommon move in a British legal inquiry. One would think that everyone would be happy at this point, and perhaps in many ways Humphrey Errington was, but the victory for his cheese had come at a steep price.

In fact the entire case would have been lost, had not his loyal customers generously donated funds towards his ongoing legal expenses through out the trial. More than £37,000 was contributed from the public during the court battle. And while Errington’s employees stood by their boss and stayed on at the farm, his marriage was not so fortunate. His marriage fell apart during the barrage of media cameras and reporters that flocked to his farm - a hefty price to pay for the cost of preserving his artisan products.

Yet one can see this as a victory on a broader scale: his triumph in court resulted in better public awareness of raw milk cheeses, and small artisan farming, two things that are considerably more common and accepted in other European countries. Upon his victory Mr Errington was sent a congratulatory letter from Prince Charles, which would later result in a meeting between the two. This in turn led to a meeting with Scottish food safety experts that was chaired by the Prince of Wales himself.

Humphrey Errington has also continued to spread awareness and understanding about raw milk cheeses by starting an alliance, and later a website in conjunction with other raw-milk cheese producers called EAT, the European Alliance for Artisan and Traditional Raw Milk Products, which offers help, advice and support to raw-milk product creators. Mr Errington is the president of EAT, a fitting position for a man so dedicated to his raw-milk cheese.

His battle and the work of the EAT are not in vain. Though raw-milk (un-pasteurised) products continue to make the news, and cases similar to Errington’s have ended on less victorious notes, the widespread appeal and consumption of such cheeses are slowly on the rise in Britain. In part, this resurgence stems from changing public views of traditional products over the past decade, which is at least partly due to the perseverance of Humphrey Errington in his defence of his Lanark Blue cheese.

So the next time you happen to pass by an oval wedge of Lanark Blue cheese, take a moment to admire its simple silver foil and blue and white packaging depicting a lass and her sheep, and reflect on the battle that was won in order for Humphrey Errington to continue producing the finest blue sheep’s cheese made on Scottish soil.