French Mimolette: The Hardest Cheese to Get Your Hands On(FDA bullies)

Yahoo ^ | 4/16/13 | Beth Greenfield

[Teflonic]

An FDA crackdown on the import of the French cheese mimolette has foodies crying foul.

“Isigny was alerted by importers that the cheese was being put on “FDA hold,” meaning it could not be moved from its arrival warehouse until further inspection. After that, he said, the cheese received the more damning label of “detained,” meaning it could not be sold in the U.S.

The reason given was that the inspectors found cheese mites in the rind, which can cause allergies, and which made the product “adulterated,” and consists of a “decomposed substance otherwise unfit for food.” (Mites, related to ticks, are tiny arthropods.) But using the microscopic cheese mites, de Vitton explained, is a vital part of the ripening process for the unique mimolette—which is “sweet,” with a “caramelized depth and smooth, fudgy finish,”

The cheese’s detention, de Vitton explained, leaves the company with three options: make it FDA compliant, send it back to France, or destroy the product completely. Destroying the cheese would be heartbreaking, he said, but sending it back has been difficult, since doing so requires special documentation from the FDA, which de Vitton says the agency has not provided.

“It’s like forbidding strawberries because some people are allergic to strawberries.” Mimolette is a cheese "everyone [in France] has in his fridge. It’s not a stinky cheese, it’s more delicate, almost like a very good cheddar.”

As far as the mites, she explained, “Almost any cloth-based cheese will have mites, it will draw these mites, which eat the outside which lets it breathe and mature properly.” But, with mimolette, “It’s treated to kill the mites before it’s shipped out of France,” so the FDA must have been looking very hard for the remaining microscopic creatures.

[Biggirl]

Got to remember that there is a cheese that is based on a blue mold, called blue cheese.

[x]

Pass it through the digestive tract of a civet cat and charge double.

[Teflonic]

I need cheese (mac and cheese)
You need cheese (cheeseburgers)
We all need cheese! (pizza!)

[Carriage Hill]

Delicious cheese:

http://www.igourmet.com/search/search.asp?keywords=mimolette&search.x=11&search.y=6

Isigny makes a delicious butter, too:

http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/Isigny-Butter-with-Coarse-Rock-Salt.asp?cat=&subcat=&cf=usp_ListSpecifiedProducts_Sel&cprod=9543,3442,9622,1192,A145,3337,005,850,2562,1923,3730,4799,9459,1961,7135,8873,5754,7271,4484,1268,9460,903,872,9544,2065,9621,1631,539,1921,9431

[freedomlover]

Oh well, at least the cheese shops will be very clean.

[Revolting cat!]

[Revolting cat!]

What does the Grand Jury have to say about it?