2024-02-08 16:16:21
Although the term “camembert” has been in the public domain since 1926, only “camembert de Normandie” has the controlled designation of origin. Alexey / stock.adobe.com
DECRYPTION – Is the famous Normandy cheese, made from a unique strain of microscopic mold, Penicillium camemberti, doomed to disappear?
Is our good old Camembert on the verge of extinction? Through selection to obtain the whitest and fluffiest cheese possible, the fungus used for its production is the victim of genetic impoverishment which threatens its ability to reproduce. This observation was drawn up by a team from the Ecology, Systematics and Evolution (ESE) laboratory at Paris-Saclay University.
Like some 5,000 products around the world, Camembert is in fact produced by fermentation: micro-organisms, in this case fungi, develop in contact with milk and use its resources to produce other compounds. « Historically, people “raised” their ferments by saving some of their cheese to cultivate it. From now on, everything is done on an industrial scale, in a sterile environment to avoid contamination and health risks. », explains Tatiana Giraud, research director at CNRS at Paris-Saclay University (1), who is participating in these studies. Mushrooms are…
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