Could the days of Camembert cheese be numbered? • FRANCE 24 English

Could the days of Camembert cheese be numbered? • FRANCE 24 English

Normandy the land of France’s smelliest
culinary treasure G
cheese in this Farm a herd of 110
purebred Normand cows Graze away to
produce unpasteurized organic
milk but the secret ingredient for G
Perfection comes in this
flask I’m going to add penicilium certi
to the milk of the
day penicilium
CTI an albino strain of fungi everyday
cheese maker Patrick Mercier pours this
mixture into
milk without it you wouldn’t get that
distinctive white rind in order to make
the original C and bear from Normandy we
must add this mold
strain nearly 8 100 gel bear wheels are
made here on a daily basis from fresh
curds hand ladled into molds an
ancestral technique but the arrival of
penicilium GTI in the recipe books is
fairly
recent this is our cheese
Celler over the last 70 years this fast
growing strain has come to dominate the
camar industry at the expense of other
species that have vanished from
disuse historically cam bear was made
without penicilium
could I go without it now I don’t
know it wouldn’t look taste the
same I don’t know if I could do
that time will tell
[Music]
the icon of French cheeses has come to
rely on a single species of fungi but
scientists are now warning that this
could be a dangerous gamble as this
unique strain could be at risk of dying
out biologists from the French national
Center for scientific research were
among the first to raise the alarm
penicilium GTI is having fertility is
isues making it unable to renew the
strange genetic
[Music]
diversity this species cannot reproduce
sexually which means it can’t exchange
part of its genome and DNA with other
individuals in the long run from
generation to generation the species
will degenerate and
vanish to create more of this fungi
cheese make ERS have no choice but to
clone it scientists believe penicilium
CTI originated in a lab in the 19
century after a biochemist isolated the
albino mold strin but it would be many
years before the industry adopted it to
make Cam and Bri cheeses white and more
appetizing in the 1950s we saw a shift
in the typical features of camel bear
and Brie chees especially the rind
in this photo from 1953 you can see the
Rind was bluish and
gray the potential Extinction of
penicilium camber might not be a death
sentence for camar after all but camelar
as we know it today Immaculate
white bringing back other strains along
with the colors they produced could
ensure its survival while also restoring
lost biodivers Unity along the way

Cheese lovers beware: the days of Camembert could be numbered. According to France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), a lack of microbial diversity risks driving the famed French soft cheese to the brink of extinction. Researchers say a single mould strain known as Penicillium camemberti, which is essential for the production of camembert, is now unable to reproduce. This has led to a collapse in its genetic make-up, threatening its survival and that of the iconic cheese along with it. The Down to Earth team reports from France’s Normandy region, the home of Camembert. 

Read more about this story in our article: https://f24.my/AIRT.y

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X (Twitter): https://f24.my/Xen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen