2023-11-15 17:47:23
For several weeks, the rumor had spread throughout all layers of the cheese industry. According to him, the famous wooden boxes which accompany some of our cheeses, and in particular Camembert, were going to disappear, condemned by the European Union and its desire to eliminate all non-recyclable packaging by 2030.
A perspective which very quickly provoked a reaction from professionals in the sector who, like Emilie Fléchard, president of the Gillot family cheese dairy, in Saint-Hilaire-de-Briouze (Orne) assure that these wooden packaging are both “guarantees of the good conservation of cheeses and above all closely linked to tradition”. In other words: the image of Camembert, all over the world, is also linked to these wooden boxes.
Will everything return to normal? One thing is certain, the rumor was unfounded, at least not entirely. There is certainly talk of putting in place a European regulation banning non-recyclable food packaging to limit their environmental impact. But, explains Sébastien Breton, secretary general of the National Council of Dairy Designations of Origin (Cnaol), “the text currently clearly provides that products under protected geographical indication (PGI) and protected designation of origin (AOP) are exempt from this prohibition. They should therefore benefit from some sort of exemption.
The “President” threatened?
The boxes of “authentic” Camembert de Normandie AOP, which must, among other things, be made with raw milk and molded with a ladle, are therefore a priori saved! But on the other hand, this is not won for the packaging boxes of industrial cheeses, starting with Camemberts made from pasteurized milk, often singled out by artisanal producers who have long demanded that consumers be given clear means of distinguish them. Perhaps that time has come. Indeed, if wooden boxes are, in the long term, only authorized for AOP cheeses, industrial Camemberts, the most represented on the market, including the famous “President” with pasteurized milk, would lose the right to use these traditional packaging. From there to imagine that some would have had an interest in spreading the rumor…
#Normandy #AOP #Camemberts #wooden #boxes