News so grave for France I can’t quite understand how it hasn’t provoked a general strike of its own: camembert is facing extinction.
The French Centre for Scientific Research has reported that the fungus required to make the cheese – Penicillium camemberti – are dangerously lacking in genetic diversity. This is because industrial cheesemaking has become dependent on one strain, rather than using the vigorous, multicoloured fungus of the past. Until the 1950s, camemberts had grey, green and orangey mould, apparently (I feel a bit queasy thinking about it), but the food industry wanted camembert white and velvety. If I understand correctly, the albino fungus it selected aren’t able to reproduce with other strains. Now, mutations mean the fungus is also losing the ability to reproduce asexually, putting the whole stinking enterprise at risk.
