As of: February 24, 2024, 3:18 p.m
By: Ulrike Hagen, Nico Reiter
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French science warns: The fungal strain required for the cheese's characteristic rind appears to be gradually dying out.
Paris – Cheese enthusiasts beware: Camembert, one of the most popular types of cheese in Germany, could soon no longer exist.
The reason for this is a fungus that is required for the velvety white rind of the soft cheese and has now apparently lost its ability to reproduce.
French scientists report that the fungal strain is increasingly losing the ability to produce the spores necessary for its reproduction.
Despite their popularity, some supermarkets' Camembert products failed a ZDF test.
Camembert: Research predicts the end of the popular type of cheese
For this reason, both Camembert and Brie could be at risk of extinction in the medium term, according to a report by the Center national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), a French national research organization.
French researchers warn of the end of Camembert.
(Symbolic image) © grafvision/Imago
Camembert, like other cheeses, is made from raw milk that has been inoculated with a mold.
This fungus produces substances that give cheese its unique aroma and appearance.
Variants with orange, gray or green mold were also produced until the 1950s.
However, the industry, finding these colors unattractive, focused on using the Penicillium camemberti albino strain, which is white and fluffy.
This is how the Camembert gets its typical, flawless rind.
Cheese crisis for Camembert and Co.: Several varieties are threatened with extinction
The problem lies in the intensive cloning of this particular strain, which has left it unable to reproduce.
The spores needed to inoculate Camembert are no longer produced in sufficient quantities.
Jeanne Ropars from the laboratory at the University of Paris-Saclay told 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 mushroom diversity: Camembert and Brie affected
In order to be able to produce cheese in large quantities, manufacturers have selected mushroom strains that meet their specifications: the cheese should be attractive, taste good, have no confusing colors, do not produce mycotoxins secreted by fungi and, above all, grow quickly on the cheese they should settle.
This has resulted in the food industry placing such high selection pressure on the fungi that cheese today has an extremely low diversity of microorganisms.
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However, Tatiana Giraud, a biologist and colleague of Ropars, sees no immediate danger.
“In the next five to 10 years the Camembert industry will not be threatened,” she said in the newspaper
Le Parisien
.
However, she would like to point out the dangers of a strong standardization of species.
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 over-segregated: it led to a strong reduction in their genetic diversity.
“Particularly 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 at risk.
One solution could be to use the species Penicillium biforme, which is genetically related to P. camemberti and also occurs naturally in raw milk and has “incredible genetic and phenotypic diversity.”
“If cheese lovers want to continue eating cheese, they will have to learn to love the variety of tastes, colors and textures,” the researchers said.
If you want to enjoy your Camembert for as long as possible, you have to pay attention to storing it correctly.
Camembert is also popular gratinated.
A test compares the baked cheese offers from discounters.
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked. Find out more about our AI principles here.