Agroaldea
They request that the flexibility of the European Union rules be applied.
The EU standards for cheese making, for example in sanitary hygiene matters, contemplate exceptions and flexibilities that must be requested or applied by national authorities, as in the use of traditional materials such as wood or reed.
Artisanal cheese is a rising value, But their producers in Spain do not always have it easy, which is why they demand greater unity of action at the European level and that the exemptions and flexibility allowed by the laws of the European Union be applied..
Spanish producers participated in a round table during the celebration of Cheese, international meeting on cheese and milk organized every two years by the Slow Food movement, in the Italian town of Bra (norte).
“Cheeses?. Two hundred ways to say cheese in Spain” was the title of the round table, which gave the idea of the great variety of producers and artisan cheeses that exist in the country.
Variety that also responds to great quality. “Spain has quality, although it is not always seen. However, thanks to people like these (artisanal producers) the Spain of quality advances”, noted the debate moderator, the Spanish journalist established in Rome, Rossend Domênech.
During the debate, they presented cheeses from small producers in Andalusia, Canary Islands, Castellón and Asturias. Some of them were made with raw milk and with little maturation and they exposed the problems and obstacles they face..
They ask for the necessary flexibility to remain unique.
The coordinator of the Spanish Network of Country and Artisanal Cheese Dairies (QueRed), Carrasco Remedies, He said that artisan producers must organize “for move from resistance to action” and direct your complaints to the appropriate authorities, whether national or European, stop complaining “in the bars”.
This work must be done together with other European producers, those who are already working with, since the problems posed by the adaptation of community standards are common to all.
“It's not a whim, We are singular and unique cheesemakers who, in order to continue making our products, need that flexibility to be applied.“, explained María Jesús Jiménez, that he received at Cheese on prize a la “Cheese Resistance“.
This flexibility and exemptions to the community standard can be applied, in things like the use of traditional materials for craft production such as wood, the reed or the use of caves.
Jiménez highlighted that Spain has potential “awesome” to make artisanal cheeses and an impressive geographical wealth which gives rise to a wide variety of grasses to achieve milk with its own personality that translates into cheeses “unique and singular”.
“We know how to make cheese and, above all, we love making cheese. It's our way of life“, María Jesús Jiménez sentenced.