Local food producers keep struggling to conform with rigid requirements that demand disproportionate investments suitable for large-scale industrial production.
José Munnix, one of the two remaining raw milk Herve cheesemakers, also a Slow Food Presidium producer, has been ordered by the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) not to produce or sell any more cheese, even though he has not received written confirmation of this. Last Saturday, FASFC announced that it could intervene, destroying his entire cheese production and closing down his cellar. Today FASFC’s definitive decision still is not clear.
Whilst asserting that all producers must respect minimum standards (and must comply with guidelines regarding good practice for hygiene), Slow Food invites the relevant authorities at the national, regional and local level to use the margins of flexibility already established in the European food hygiene regulations.
The Slow Food Liège Convivium has organized a meeting of artisanal producers and cheese affineurs at Ciney this Thursday, in the frame of the “Salon du Fromage et des Produits laitiers de Ciney”, in order to prepare a second meeting between affineurs, producers and the FASFC.
For further information, please contact Slow Food International Press Office
Paola Nano, +39 329 8321285 [email protected]
Slow Food involves over a million of people dedicated to and passionate about good, clean and fair food. This includes chefs, youth, activists, farmers, fishers, experts and academics in over 158 countries; a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide (known as convivia), contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize; and over 2,500 Terra Madre food communities who practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.