A French dairy industry association has launched a campaign urging the citizens of France to support local cheese producers by eating more cheese.
Consumers in France have been spending more on staples and pre-packaged cheese during the COVID-19 crisis, and have shunned many traditional cheeses from smaller makers, according to the Centre National Interprofessionnel de l'Economie Laitière—a group that includes producers, distributors, and others in the dairy industry. The association created the #Fromagissons campaign (a blend of the words meaning “cheese” and “let’s act”), which is seeking to promote consumption of cheese, in particular cheeses made by small specialty producers.
Sales of some cheeses, such as those with protected geographical indications, have fallen by 60 percent or more, the association said.
The effort is also seeking to minimize waste of the surplus milk that is being produced by the nation’s dairy farmers. Milk production naturally increases during spring when cows can produce about 3.3 percent more milk, the association said.
In the U.S., sales of deli cheese have been regaining momentum, according to research from the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association, although consumers are still gravitating toward packaged cheeses.
“In part, that is the influence of deli service being closed for some retailers, but retailers tell us consumers are increasingly moving toward packaged as a safety measure as well,” said Angela Bozo, education director at IDDBA.
She noted that some retailers have installed Plexiglas dividers in their service departments as a temporary measure to increase the safety of shopping for deli products. Many retailers are also pre-slicing and packaging deli cheese themselves. Sales of cheese packaged for grab-and-go rose 89.6 percent in the week ending April 26, the IDDBA research found.
In addition to the French effort to promote specialty cheese, other European food industry associations have also rolled out initiatives in a bid to support their local food producers. In Belgium, where the nation was reportedly expecting a surplus of 826,000 tons of potatoes, a potato industry association launched an effort to encourage consumers to eat more fries and buy more frozen potatoes to store for the future.
Belgian companies that process potatoes don’t have the freezer space to store the excess product they are producing, the reports said. In addition to the immediate problems caused by the lack of a market for surplus potatoes, farmers are also concerned about how much demand there will be for the next crop, which would be harvested later this summer.
Meanwhile in Italy, a federation of farmers and agricultural producers has launched a program supporting local farmers called Spesa Sospesa (literally, “suspended shopping”) which encourages consumers to buy locally produced items both for themselves and for those in need. It is modeled after an Italian tradition of buying an extra cup of coffee for a future customer as an act of charity, called caffè sospeso.
Caldiretti, the Italian farmers’ group, is promoting the campaign through its Campagna Amica initiative. Consumers who buy groceries online through Campagna Amica, which only offers products made in Italy, can also purchase a package of groceries for a needy family. The products include fruit, vegetables, flour, cheeses, salami, and other local products, according to a report in Italy Magazine.
Related: American Cheese Society Cancels Annual Conference; DiBruno Bros.' Mignucci Talks Supply Chain, Staffing.
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