Mould ripened cheese

[sqwezlybear]

Hi,
I'm new on here and hoping someone can help.
At what age is it safe to allow my son to eat mould ripened cheeses?
At the moment he is 10 months, but my friend has a son who is 15 months and she would like to know too.
Hope you can shed some light for us.
Cheers

Goodness, I've no idea! (But wanted to say Hi and welcome, anyway ) I know that mould-ripened cheese isn't recommended for pregnant women in the UK because of the small risk of listeriosis (which can lead to infection including meningitis in newborns or miscarriage in earlier pregnancy) so presumably you'd avoid it with small babies, too, but I'm not sure there are any hard and fast rules about older babies. Perhaps some of the French mums can help here. I think mums in this country are currently advised to avoid products such as honey under the age of one because of the risk of infant botulism, but I've no idea again how comparable the risk would be.

Not sure I've been any help but just wanted to acknowledge your post .

I've found the answer from food standards agency(they finally replied to my e-mail[:)]

This is what they said

Thank you for your email dated 17th May 2006 addressed to the Food Standards Agency ‘Ask an Expert’ in which you requested information on the safe age to give mould ripened cheese to children. This has been passed to me for reply.

Almost everyone is vulnerable to foodborne diseases, but some people, particularly children, are more vulnerable than others are. Children under the age of five fall into our ‘high risk’ group and are more like to get food poisoning.

Therefore, the Food Standards Agency advises that children that fall within this age group should avoid mould-ripened cheeses.