Camembert and Brie lovers may soon need to ration their favourite delicacy because a decline in fungi has left them on the verge of extinction.
The two cheeses are made by adding a specific strain of Penicillium mould – the family that gave us penicillin – which gives the dairy delicacy their distinctive taste and smell.
But a report from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) has warned humans may be driving yet another organism to the brink, basically because it can’t keep having sex with itself.
To maintain the products’ quality, cheesemakers have relied on the fungus reproducing asexually, essentially producing a clone of itself each generation.
However, over time the fungus has lost its ability to produce asexual spores to create the next generation.
‘We’ve been able to domesticate these invisible organisms just as we did with dogs or cabbage,’ said Jeanne Ropars, a researcher at Paris-Saclay University.
‘But what happened, as it does every time an organism large or small is subjected to overly drastic selection, is that their genetic diversity has been greatly reduced. Working with microorganisms, the cheese makers didn’t realise that they had selected a single individual, which is not sustainable over the long term.’
The centre says blue cheese like Roquefort is also under threat, but not to the same extent as Brie and Camembert.
The two are made injecting the fungus into curd – essentially milk with the water removed. The blue spores in Roquefort come from Penicillium roqueforti, and the rind on Brie and Camembert comes from Penicillium camemberti.
It was believed the fungus grew naturally on cheeses stored in damp and cold cellars, but scientists discovered it was easier to utilise spores produced in a laboratory for the process.
Initially, Camembert curds were inoculated with different strains, which gave them rinds in various textures and colour, including orange, grey, green and blue.
But during the 1950s, manufacturers called for cloned fungi strains that developed rapidly to fit with their ‘self-imposed specifications,’ according to the CNRS.
It said there was a requirement for cheeses to be ‘appealing, with a good flavour, no unappetising colours and no [toxins] secreted by fungi’.
The scientists in Normandy chose an albino strain of Penicillium camemberti to maintain white camembert rinds, and for decades have relied on it reproducing by itself.
Now, it is struggling, and so is the cheese industry.
‘It is now very difficult for the entire industry to obtain enough spores to inoculate their production,’ said the CNRS.
‘Blue cheeses may be under threat, but the situation is much worse for Camembert, which is already on the verge of extinction’ the report added.
However, hope is on the horizon.
A newly discovered population of P. roqueforti has been discovered in a little-known cheese called Termignon blue. It is hoped it will be able to reproduce with the existing Camembert and Brie fungus to inject some much-needed diversity into the mould.
This could save the cheeses, but will lead to products that do not always appear or taste identical.
To keep their favourites though, the CNRS said cheese lovers will have to learn to appreciate more ‘diversity in flavour, colour and texture’.
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