Camembert and Roquefort cheese could be extinct in France – 02/23/2024 – Food

Researchers from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) warn that France, the land of cheese, could lose two symbols of its well-known production, considered the country’s cultural and culinary heritage.

Legend has it that once, in French lands, former president Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) asked, with pride, “how is it possible to govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese?”. The joke is now taken seriously by French scientists, who are trying to ensure that these culinary specialties do not disappear.

To make cheese, microorganisms are needed that transform milk. Camembert is no exception and requires the use of a microscopic fungus in its maturation process.

Camembert, even if it is produced outside France, is inoculated with a single and the same strain of fungus, the Penicillium camembertiexplains the CNRS.

“This strain is a white mutation selected in 1898 to inoculate bries and then camemberts, starting in 1902. Until the 1950s, camemberts still had gray, green, or sometimes orange mold on their surface. It wasn’t exactly appetizing, so agreement with manufacturers who, to sell more, bet everything on a strain of Penicillium camemberti albino. This is what gives the cheese its characteristic white, slightly fluffy rind,” the researchers report.

From generation to generation, the fungus’ DNA underwent small changes, natural mutations. However, mixing with other strains of Penicillium camemberti ended up degenerating the lineage. The strain is now so depleted that it has become practically infertile. According to researchers, cheese manufacturers are having a hard time producing enough of the variety.

Cross genetic fertilization

It is true that there is an appeal of controlled origin (AOC), whichamembert from Normandy, a protected name, which guarantees the name of the product and typical production throughout the European Union. But in the case of Camembert, it is the AOC that imposes the use of this single strain, which has become almost sterile.

So what can be done to save this symbol of French terroir? In theory, there are several possibilities. The first is to return the wild population of Penicillium camemberti and restart the long domestication process, according to the CNRS. Yes, microorganisms can be domesticated in the same way as dogs or cats.

It is also possible to imagine the use of genome editing techniques, that is, producing a transgenic fungus capable of recovering its reproduction capacity.

But for CNRS researchers, this would not be a good solution, since this manipulation is just another form of selection for exclusive characteristics. And “it is the diversity provided by reproduction with different individuals that we need today”, say the scientists.

In short, they favor the crossing of organisms. There are other species that are quite close, mainly the Penicillium biformebut the consumer will have to accept that the flavor, texture and color of Camembert cheese will change.

Danger for roquefort

In addition to brie and camembert, the situation of blue cheeses, such as bleu and roquefort, is also critical due to the same circumstances, but appears less serious. This is because there are not just one, but two strains of the fungus Penicillium roqueforti, both used in the manufacture of blue cheeses.

The first population, the most widespread, is in fact depleting. But the second, identified by the appellation AOC roquefort, is better protected and remains quite diverse.

Scientists are still betting on a recent discovery: a third strain, previously unknown, found in a cheese produced in small quantities, bleu de Termignon, made on some farms in the French Alps. By combining it with depleted strains, this third strain could revitalize them and save the blue cheese sector, according to the CNRS.