Cheese experts say camembert and brie under threat of extinction - Food Files

Feb 20, 2024

We're afraid it's not gouda news.

An alarming report from the French National Center for Scientific Research has revealed the funges needed to make brie and camembert is getting dangerously close to extinction.

Before you start stockpiling soft cheeses, the situation is less dire than it sounds. You see, it is not brie and camembert that are in danger. It is the one strain of fungus that France’s biggest cheesemakers rely on, penicillium camemberti, that is up the proverbial creek.

Penicillium camemberti has been favoured since the late 1800s because it creates the cheeses signature pure white rind and typical taste, whereas other strains produce ‘unsightly’ greys, oranges, and greens tinges with distinct flavour profiles.

For generations, to ensure consistency, the strain has been mainly cloned rather than allowed to reproduce conventionally. As a result, the modified fungus can no longer breed with other strains, causing an overall degradation of penicillium camemberti. A lack of genetic variation in the strain has led to things getting a little funky in the fungus family tree.

Spores that could previously reproduce with seedlings now rely on ‘copies’ of themselves, creating a huge disparity between supply and demand. The good news is, we don’t need to rely on penicillin camemberti alone in order to enjoy great white mould cheeses. It’s just the one we have been using.

So, what’s the solution? Fortunately, the answer is two-fold (and delicious).

Firstly, production of a genetically similar fungus ‘penicillin biforme’ is being ramped up across France, though experts anticipate that the flavour, appearance and texture of the cheeses may be affected.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, consumers are being encouraged to embrace variations of the conventional brie and camembert they may expect in the supermarket. As with all good things, beauty lies in difference, and if we want to preserve these cheeses for the future we’ll need to expand our horizons.

Those ‘unsightly’ variations? Those are perfectly normal characteristics that reflect each cheese’s unique provenance. There’s a whole wild, weird, wonderful world of cheese just waiting to be explored. Just don’t forget the crackers.