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French camembert manufacturer mulls using treated milk

The pungent and oozing camembert, that king of French cheeses, is under threat from its own producers, who are moving toward using filtered milk to avert health concerns and to appeal to global palates.

True camembert, the most smelly and premium variety, is made from raw milk from Normandy cows, unpasteurized, unsterilized and largely untouched by modern technology.

But in a move considered near-heretical by some cheese lovers, at least one producer wants to treat the milk used.

A cooperative in the Normandy town of Isigny-sur-Mer was first to announce it intends to switch to micro-filtered milk but opponents fear the move could threaten the distinctive bacterial and farmyard flavor of a good, gooey camembert.

The cooperative, called Isigny-Sainte-Mere, is one of only 10 camembert producers whose cheese can bear the coveted Appellation d'Origine Controlee label, granted to cheeses, wines and other products made according to stringent production rules.

For camembert, an AOC label requires that producers use only untreated milk.

Producers say they want to minimize the possible health risks inherent in the use of raw milk, including the threat of E. coli bacteria.

In December 2005, the Reaux company, another AOC camembert producer, had to close its factory for more than two months after six children became ill after eating its camembert.

Such cases are rare but of increasing concern to cheese makers. Many French consumers still frequent cheese shops but many turn to supermarket shelves that include pasteurized and otherwise processed cheeses.

The head of Reaux, Marc Brunet, remains a staunch opponent of micro-filtered milk.

The cooperative in Isigny-sur-Mer doesn't want to break the rules, so it has asked the National Institute for Origin and Quality to change those that govern the AOC for camembert.

If the ruling is negative, some producers have said they would drop their AOC label, including France's No. 1 dairy company Lactalis and the Isigny-Sainte-Mere cooperative, which was awarded the Supreme World Champion Cheese prize in 2004.

Some fear this could lead to broader changes in the dairy industry in a country deeply attached to its cheese.

President Charles de Gaulle once asked: "How can you govern a nation where there are 258 kinds of cheese?"
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