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The World Might Be Running Out of Camembert Cheese

  • June 22, 2017

If you’re in love with a soft French cheese known as Camembert, you may be seeing the last of it. According to Vinepair, true Camembert, which is made from unfiltered raw milk and has a fat content of at least 38 percent, is impossible to find in the U.S., because imported cheese must be pasteurized or aged at least 60 days. But low-grade competition and government regulations are making it difficult to find even in France.

The war against raw milk has been one of the most successful, fear-based campaigns ever created to monopolize an industry, even though increasing numbers of Americans are seeking out unpasteurized, or raw, dairy products — both for the health benefits and the flavor.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) claims the war is justified because raw milk causes thousands of illnesses every year. Yet, the way they “count” these illnesses is interesting: There were 21 reported illnesses linked to raw milk in Minnesota from 2001 to 2010, but the CDC turned that into more than 20,500 by “guesstimating” what they believe is the “real” number.

What’s really interesting, though, is that the CDC’s most recent studies specifically looked at raw dairy contaminated with Escherichia coli, salmonella, listeria and campylobacter — the latter of which is commonly found contaminating chicken coming from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and produce. In April 2017, the CDC said 8,547 cases of the more than 24,000 foodborne infections reported in 2016 were caused by campylobacter — and blamed it on raw milk even though it’s regularly detected in supermarket chicken.

The real truth is that preventing farmers from selling raw milk facilitates Big Dairy milk prices. In 2016, the industrial dairy industry dumped 43 million gallons of milk due to a massive milk glut and they don’t like the idea of more people turning to raw milk, no matter what the price. Even so, more Americans than ever are demanding the right to purchase and consume locally sourced food of their own choosing. If you believe in food freedom and the right to consume raw milk and cheese, support your local farmers and fight for your rights through the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.