Commenters in my last post have asked me exactly what I was talking about when I stated that I found many “Danish cheeses that would be illegal in Europe” in a Chinese supermarket. Although it is actually possible to figure out what I was talking about from a careful study of the top photograph and perusal of Samizdata‘s fine archives I shall, none the less, explain myself. In truth, I was being slightly misleading.
The European Union has in recent years adopted laws (based on earlier French laws) adopted “Protected Designation of Origin” and “Protected Geographical Origin” laws concerning the names of foodstuffs, which state essentially that if a food product is supposedly characteristic of a certain place of origin, then the particular name of that foodstuff can only be used on products made in that place, and usually also made in a particular way (subject to vast books of regulations) in that particular place. Sometimes that product name is the name of the place (eg Edam cheese must come from Edam in the Netherlands), and sometimes it is not(“Camembert” cheese must come from Normandy). Nobody seriously objects to laws that make the origins of products clear, and make it illegal to genuinely attempt to deceive about where a product came from, but these laws are notable for their overreach. In many cases, the attempt has been made to regain control over names which became generic decades or centuries ago, and it has also become illegal to use these names desciptively in any sense. (You cannot say “This cheese resembles camembert” or even “This cheese does not resemble camemert” on the label). Ultimately this has ended all about being protectionist with respect to small numbers of producers.
Having adopted these laws inside the EU, the European Union’s agriculture directorate (sometimes also known as “The French”) has attempted in trade negotiations to have similar laws enacted internationally, using the argument that “We are good citizens within the EU and respect these laws and the rights of producers (blah blah blah), and therefore they should be respected internationally too. Their attempts to have such laws adopted within the WTO have largely involved their being told to get stuffed, principally by the Americans, but they have had some success in bilateral negotiations with smaller countries (eg Australia) that want to trade with the EU in agricultural products.
However, there has been a split between northern and southern Europe on this. A large number of these PDOs and PGOs have been adopted in southern Europe (particularly France and Italy) but there has been much more reluctance to adopt them in northern Europe, where farmers and producers have been reluctant to accept the large amount of regulations that has come with them. For instance, the producers of stilton cheese considerd participating, but ultimately decided that protecting the word “stilton” would reduce the flexibility of their businesses sufficiently that it was not worth doing so, although they did actually (and somewhat idiotically) adopt “Blue Stilton” and “White Stilton” as protected phrases. In the “screwups” department, the producers of Newcastle Brown Ale did apply to have the name protected, and then discovered that it was technically illegal to use the name “Newcastle Brown Ale” for beer brewed in their new brewery across the river in Gateshead.
None the less, northern European countries have (with a bit of grumbling) gone along with these laws, and products on supermarket shelves have been relabeled.
But, as I discovered in China last week, they only do what they have to. For the export market and setting a good example for the rest of the world so that other people will stop using the names of our cheeses, the Danes clearly don’t care at all.
(Actually, I am not sure the word “brie” is protected, but “mozzarella” and “camembert” definitely are. And “havarti” is not protected either, but since it was a Danish cheese in the first place, I suspect that was up to them). There is clearly no attempt to pretend that these are French or Italian cheeses though. The number of instances of the word “Danish” (and the number of Danish flags on the shelf) makes it clear that the opposite is the case. The fact that the cheeses are Danish is being played up, not down.
So, in some sense I lied slightly. It isn’t so much the cheeses that are banned in Europe, but the combination of the cheeses and the names that are banned in Europe. While those Danish cheeses can technically be sold in Europe, those combinations of cheese and packaging cannot. In practice though, one does not see those kinds of Danish cheeses on British supermarket shelves. The difficulties in explaining what they actually are under the protected names law is such that it makes them hard to export to Britain and then sell, and we end up buying French and Italian cheeses instead. Which is, of course, the point.
For genuine instances of banned cheeses, one must generally cross the Atlantic. The FDA in the United States bans the sale of all cheeses made with unpasteurised milk, on the basis that these are slightly more likely to carry certain diseases than are cheeses made with pasteurised milk. As it happens, cheese afficionados think that using pasteurised milk ruins the taste of some of the very best cheeses. (i think they are right). And is in reality eating unpasteurised cheese is probably less risky than crossing the road, American cheese fans want to eat these cheeses. Which is why there is an illegal cheese smuggling business (and a black market in illegal cheeses) between Europe (mostly France) and the United States. I kid you not.
Back to the Danish cheeses, I was curious as to what the French supermarket chain Carrefour would do with them, both from the point of view of Carrefour’s recent indiscretions concerning Danish products, and the European origin laws, given that Carrefour is French. My suspicion is that they would have simply sold them to people who wanted to buy them, but alas I didn’t find out. Although Carrefour apparently has several stores in Shanghai, I didn’t manage to find one. I tried, but I accidentally got on the wrong bus. After the bus I did get on unexpectedly got on a motorway, I found myself ultimately eating barbecued meat on skewers with Mongolians in some rather remote corner of Shanghai. But that is another story.
Well, since you are coming around my flat later, Michael, cheese must be on the menu then. I feel peckish already!
A great and most entertaining post for a Sunday morning, Michael! Thank you!
I am going out shortly to buy some Lurpak and some Danish Camembert. (I have to admit though, there is no Camembert in the world as wonderful as French Camembert.)
It is ironic that France seems to be a major producer of feta cheese!
danish cheese is most definitely very nice. me and allah never eat anything else!
love and kisses everybody,
mo (pbum)
http://www.prophetmohammed.co.uk
danish cheese is most definitely very nice. me and allah never eat anything else!
love and kisses everybody,
mo (pbum)
http://www.prophetmohammed.co.uk
Michael, I’ve been enjoying your international perspectives. Just one correction to your lastest (and inspirational, mmm ..) cheese comments. You said –
Reading enough of the ‘we know what’s best for you’ narrative on this FDA site yields the following statements.
Cheeses aged less than 60 days or at lower temperatures come under raw milk laws. The same FDA page makes the following statement about raw milk regulation.
State laws are covered quite well on this site(Link), where it says –
Cheeses aged over 60 days can be imported. I think most or all of these fit that description.
The way I read it, cheeses less than 60 days old that are not packaged for retail can be shipped interstate and maybe imported, but most state laws would still restrict it. I’m not sure though, too many regulations.
From Wisconsin, America’s dairyland.
Michael, I’ve been enjoying your international perspectives. Just one correction to your lastest (and inspirational, mmm ..) cheese comments. You said –
Reading enough of the ‘we know what’s best for you’ narrative on this FDA site yields the following statements.
Cheeses aged less than 60 days or at lower temperatures come under raw milk laws. The same FDA page makes the following statement about raw milk regulation.
State laws are covered quite well on this site(Link), where it says –
Cheeses aged over 60 days can be imported. I think most or all of these fit that description.
The way I read it, cheeses less than 60 days old that are not packaged for retail can be shipped interstate and maybe imported, but most state laws would still restrict it. I’m not sure though, too many regulations.
From Wisconsin, America’s dairyland.
If no one else will ask, then I will.
Are these cheese products intended for Chinese people? IME most East Asians think cheese smells disgusting avoided it (I know an Asian lady who’s lived almost 20 years in Europe without tasting local white cheeses).
Or maybe this is a new ‘exotic’ thing there? Like WEuropeans or NAmericans buying fish sauce or fermented shrimp paste?
Michael, I’ve been enjoying your international perspectives. Just one correction to your lastest (and inspirational, mmm ..) cheese comments. You said –
Reading enough of the ‘we know what’s best for you’ narrative on this FDA site yields the following statements.
Cheeses aged less than 60 days or at lower temperatures come under raw milk laws. The same FDA page makes the following statement about raw milk regulation.
State laws are covered quite well on this site(Link), where it says –
Cheeses aged over 60 days can be imported. I think most or all of these fit that description.
The way I read it, cheeses less than 60 days old that are not packaged for retail can be shipped interstate and maybe imported, but most state laws would still restrict it. I’m not sure though, too many regulations.
From Wisconsin, America’s dairyland.
@ The Prophet Mohammed
Nice web site, and you started so well but…
“in a post 9/11 world certain compromises need to be made in order to try and ensure the security of the majority”
Perhaps you are actually right, but what I find so offensive about this argument is that it leaves out the notion of time. Its as though the passage of 9/11/2001 changed the state of the world not only as is now but as it always was and as it always will be. We face a threat which we must fight, but that doesn’t justify irreversable changes to our society.
Regards
SJG
Midwesterner: Yes, I erred. Upon further research, I conclude that the key issue is the 60 day restriction. The illegal trade is in cheeses that are eaten young, and in particular in brie and camembert. The best bries are unpasteurised, and getting some in the US can be a little bit of a challenge as a consequence.
Would someone shut that fuckin
Bazouki player up!!?
Michael, thank you for that link. It made my day. I think I’ll hand it around to some friends.
It sounds like this young cheese problem can only be solved by expanding the authority of one of our law enforcement agencies. How about the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Cheese?
Obviously unpasteurized cheese is a fearsome problem. I’m sure it’s one of those anti-American French conspiracies.
I do have such a hard time taking the cheese police very seriously. I’ve enjoyed raw, whole milk from time to time for my entire life.
According to this Radio Prague article, Slovakia had to apply for a special exemption to be able to continue producing bryndza cheese in the traditional way (ie. unpasteurized).
I mean why the hell would a country have to ask the EU overlords for special permission to continue to produce its traditional cheese – that it has been producing for centuries? God, I hate these people. (Not the Slovenes! The mandelsons – used here as a collective noun for tyrants and overlords).
“Protected Designation of Origin” and “Protected Geographical Origin” laws concerning the names of foodstuffs, which state essentially that if a food product is supposedly characteristic of a certain place of origin, then the particular name of that foodstuff can only be used on products made in that place, and usually also made in a particular way (subject to vast books of regulations) in that particular place.
It would be a disruption of the US economy close to that which would have been caused by Kyoto is it were illegal to sell hamburgers which were not made in Hamburg and cheeseburgers which were not made in Cheeseburg.
The article makes it sound like Italy is benefiting from this regulation as much as France. In actual fact this is not true. Due to the huge amount of Parma ham and Parmesan cheese that have never seen Parma, not to mention more obscure products, it was decided that the economic benefits out-weighed the costs. However, smaller producers lost out in a major way. For instance, aging cheese in caves is pretty much illegal now – unless those caves happen to be in France…
For an extreme example, an unpasteurized cheese that used to be made in the hills above Piacenza, and was deliberately allowed to age until maggots grew in it, is now illegal as it is supposedly harmful to people’s health. However, people have been eating the stuff for a thousand years, and of course continue to do so – it is impossible to find in shops nowadays, though. You have to go up into little villages and be introduced to some wizened farmer, who will fetch the well-hidden cheese from its bolt-hole.
Never mind about all this cheese malarky. Why has no-one been concerned over their less than PC names for what looks suspiciously like a bag of crisps! “Coon”?! I’d like to see Golden Wonder try that.
Coon is a brand of Australian cheddar cheese. And in Australian English, the name “coon” doesn’t mean anything other than a brand of cheddar cheese.
If I recall, there’s a Coon brand of cheese in the US, as well. Coon isn’t necessarily a derisive word. It has historically been commonly used as a diminutive of raccoon in America. In fact, these days, that is the only usage for this word.