Yes, it’s another legal tangle from the notoriously litigious land of cowbells, church bells and Heidi. This time, it’s over the size of the holes in, well, Swiss cheese, whose name is actually Emmentaler.
Swiss regulations require that the cheese be made from milk produced in the Emmental area and must have holes that are “cherry-sized,” defined as between 2 and 4 cm in diameter.
The holes are the result of hay dust in the air in the barns where Swiss cows were once milked by hand, with the particles landing in the bucket and ultimately in the cheese, where they helped bacteria form gases that produced the bubbles that became the holes that are the hallmark of the cheese.
Modern milking technology, with vacuum-based equipment that draws directly from the cows’ udders, leaves far less room for hay dust to invade, which at first thought would seem to be a good thing. However, less hay dust means smaller bubbles and ultimately, holes that are too small for approval by the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture.
German and French cheesemakers who produce a similar cheese, some even using the name, have found a simple solution: toss some hay dust into the milk. And the Emmentaler Swiss Association thinks that’s a fine idea, too—but the Federal Office for Agriculture says that is an illegal process and would lead to the “industrialization of Emmentaler.”
The matter is now before the Federal Administrative Court, where the cheesemakers have argued that “The Emmentaler’s characteristic holes must be preserved. If we do nothing, they will disappear altogether.” The FOA says that argument is full of holes, because with or without, it’s still good cheese, and the distinction between hand-made and industrial must be kept.
No decision from the court yet; perhaps they are waiting for the decision to ripen.
