All out for True Camembert!

[gordonzola]

Spread the word, help save the curd!

A protest is planned for Saturday 27 October, 2.30pm, Argentan, France. (190km west of Paris)

Comité de Défense du véritable Camembert

Why the protest?

Two of France's largest dairy producers, Lactalis and the Isigny Sainte-Mère cooperative, which together made 90 percent of the traditional raw-milk Camembert in Normandy, began this year to treat the milk used for most of those cheeses. In doing so, they had to sacrifice their AOC status, the first time in French history that Camembert producers voluntarily did so. But they also have asked the French government's food board to grant that status to their new Camembert’s, arguing that pasteurising (or in this case, thermalizing -G) the milk does not sacrifice the traditional taste and character of the cheese. A group of retired cheesemakers and local businessmen created Comité de Défense du véritable Camembert. It has circulated a petition to protect the AOC rules for Camembert.

Protest poster here

Thanks to Cheesy Curd Nerd for this info!

Comments

[dirtylibrarian.livejournal.com]

Finally! A cheese post.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

you're funny!

[dirtylibrarian.livejournal.com]

and cute.

[walktheplank.livejournal.com]

I know that this is blasphemy, but the concept of raw milk cheeses sort of disgusts me.

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

Why?

[walktheplank.livejournal.com]

Pathogens. Cows are filthy animals.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

Pssst, I heard a rumor that vegetables grow in the ground? And if that wasn't bad enough, they often dump animal feces and ground animal bones on them to "help" them grow. It's called fertilization. Man, what will those corporate bastards think of next?

;)

Raw is not the same as dirty.

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

Your mistake is in equating raw with dirty, when it is often the opposite.
Milk ( at least here in California, and other states as well) must meet very strict standards to be able to be sold. The raw milk standards are extremely strict, here the requirements are even tighter than those for pasteurized milk!
So in California, raw milk can be cleaner and safer than pasteurized!
http://organicpastures.com/faq.html
Current (PMO) Federal standards for pasteurized milk permit 100,000 bacteria per ml for milk going to be pasteurized with as many as 20,000 injured or living bacteria to be alive after pasteurization, and this may include pathogens (this is arguably the reason why milk is pasteurized). California standards for raw milk require that milk sold for raw consumption have fewer than 15,000 live bacteria per ml and no pathogens.
Milk tests are constantly done on the milk to be sure that the milk is clean.
You can find out more information on raw milk at
http://www.realmilk.com

(ps your link didn't work, but I think I know where you were going)

Old news

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

O K your link worked; did you see that it was dated 1998?
You might also check want out all the illness caused by pasteurized dairy products to get more balanced information.
Pasteurization actually causes milk to be a perfect sterile medium for bacteria and pathogens to grow, similar to a petri dish.
Most contamination actually occurs after the milk has left the cow, in the milk handling process.

[zeppo.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday to the cheesiest bastard I know... well electronically anyway.
Have a great day!

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

aw thanks! It's nice to hear from you, my electronic friend.

CamemBert & CamemErnie

[thewolfteen.livejournal.com]

What about the fact that Camembert, as we know it today, only came to exist after the AOC started back in the 20s? Pre-WWI, Camembert had a gnarly, muticolored bloom and was really stinky and, to quote Monty Python, was excrementally runny. If the French want to be so, well, French about the whole thing, they should protest Camembert's refinement into the bleached-white, sterile little disks it has become.

Re: CamemBert & CamemErnie

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

I think you're missing the point. The response to the fact that it isn't as extraordinary as it once was should be to make it even more pedestrian?