The New Battle of Normandy

A few kilometers behind Omaha beach and Utah beach, in the countryside, a new battle of Normandy took place, that of Camembert, the most emblematic of French cheeses, which has just resulted in the victory of the real Camembert! 

This conflict began about fifteen years ago and opposed on the one hand the lobby of the powerful dairy farmers producing industrial Camembert and on the other hand the small producers producing an almost artisanal cheese of excellent gustatory quality.

The industrialists tried to mislead consumers by making them believe that their industrial cheese production was a genuine product of Normandy and decided to mention on their cheese box the term “made in Normandy”. This was a lie. In fact, real Camembert cheese with a controlled designation of origin obeys very strict rules; it must be made in Normandy, from unboiled milk and entirely from cows of the Normandy breed. This production process, using only “raw” Normandy milk, is the only way to guarantee a truly high quality product. 

From 2008 onwards, small artisanal producers engaged in legal battles against the dairy industry lobby to force them to withdraw the fraudulent mention “made in Normandy” and at the same time the industrialists took legal action to have it recognised that Camembert could also be made from pasteurised, i.e. not raw, milk. All the most diverse bodies were involved in the battle: dairy farmers’ unions, the Ministry of Agriculture, the European Union, the French courts, small producers, consumer associations, the (French) national institute for designations of origin (INAO).

After several years of negotiation a compromise had been reached between industrialists and small producers, unfortunately at the time of signing, the dairy lobby, dissatisfied with the fact that they could no longer use the “Made in Normandy” label on their industrial Camemberts, refused to sign the “cheese peace”.

Justice was once again seized and this time it put an end to this Franco-French war. The highest French Court of Justice has finally decided on 24 December 2020: Camembert will be exclusively made in Normandy from cows and raw milk. No dairy lobby company will be allowed to use the words “made in Normandy” to sell Camemberts that were in fact copies.

The war is over, lovers of good cheese are happy and so are Normandy cows!