As of: February 22, 2024, 2:14 p.m
By: Ulrike Hagen
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French researchers warn of the end of Camembert.
The mushroom strain needed for its furry white bark is gradually dying out.
Paris – Cheese fans have to be very strong now.
Because one of the Germans' favorite types of cheese is threatened with extinction: Camembert.
The background is that the furry white rind of the soft cheese uses a fungus that can no longer be reproduced sexually.
According to French researchers, the fungal strain gradually lost the ability to produce the spores necessary for its reproduction.
French researchers warn of the end of Camembert.
The mushroom strain needed for its furry white bark is dying out.
(Archive image) © Imago/Pond5 Images
Camembert: Researchers warn of the end of the popular type of cheese
According to a report by the Center national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), a French national research organization that reports to the Ministry of Research, both Camembert and Brie are at risk of extinction in the medium term.
Like other cheeses made from raw milk, Camembert is inoculated with a mold that releases substances that give the cheese its special aroma and furry appearance.
Variants with orange, gray or green mold were also produced until the 1950s.
But the industry, which did not like these colors that were perceived as unattractive, relied on the use of the Penicillium camemberti albino strain, which was white and also fluffy.
This is how the Camembert gets its characteristic, flawless rind.
Last year, ZDF tested several products, and Camembert emerged as the clear winner.
Cheese crisis for Camembert and Co.: Other popular varieties are also threatened with extinction
The problem: The intensive cloning of this one strain meant that it could no longer reproduce and could no longer supply the spores needed to vaccinate the Camembert in large quantities.
Jeanne Ropars from the laboratory at the University of Paris-Saclay explained to the French magazine
Le Parisien
that the extinction of the fungal strains would also affect sweetbreads such as Meaux, Melun or Coulommiers as well as Roquefort.
Lack of fungal diversity: Camembert and Brie are threatened with extinction
In order to be able to produce cheese in large quantities, manufacturers would have selected mushroom strains that meet the specifications they have established: the cheeses should be attractive, taste good, not have confusing colors, not produce mycotoxins secreted by mushrooms, and most importantly : grow quickly on the cheese they were supposed to colonize.
As a result, the food industry has exerted such great selection pressure on the fungi that cheese today has an extremely low diversity of microorganisms.
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Her colleague, biologist Tatiana Giraud, does not see any short-term danger.
“In the next five to 10 years the Camembert industry will not be threatened,” she said in the newspaper
Le Parisien
.
However, they want to draw attention to the dangers of a large-scale standardization of species.
Researchers' warning: Reducing genetic diversity is not sustainable in the long term
“We have managed to domesticate these invisible organisms, like we did with the dog or the cabbage,” says Jeanne Ropars.
But what happened to microorganisms was what always happens when organisms, large or small, are selected too drastically: it led to a very strong reduction in their genetic diversity.
“Especially with microorganisms, breeders failed to realize that they were only selecting a single individual and that this was not sustainable in the long term.”
“If cheese lovers want to continue eating cheese, they have to learn to love variety”
The problem of low diversity of microorganisms also exists with other types of cheese, such as Roquefort, according to the CNRS.
However, Camembert is particularly threatened.
One solution is to use the species genetically related to P. camemberti called Penicillium biforme, which also occurs naturally in raw milk and has “incredible genetic and phenotypic diversity,” to vaccinate camemberts and sweetbreads.
“If cheese lovers want to continue eating cheese, they will have to learn to love the variety of flavors, colors and textures,” it says.
Although Camembert is very popular in Germany, it is one of the products that is banned in other countries.