Dairy intolerances

Abi Khalil says: “It is true that today’s consumers are more informed about lactose intolerance, reason for which we see more and more lactose free products in the market. That been said, mature cheeses do not have any more lactose or contain much less lactose than fresh cheese. So the good news is that lactose intolerant consumers can still eat matured cheeses without any problem.”

Health concerns

As a high calorie food, cheese is not known as a healthy option but it does provide calcium and protein. Discussing whether or not consumers are bothered about its health credentials is essentially moot, in Robin’s eyes. He shares his opinion: “What I am selling is not health, it is pleasure and taste. Everybody knows cheese has some fat in it — less than people think, but there is some fat and people know this. However there are a lot of other products full of fat that people don’t know about, so for me the danger is not the cheese. When you eat some cheese you understand not to eat too much but some other products are full of fat and it isn’t written on the labels. But once again, I am not selling health — I am selling pleasure.”

He adds: “It’s healthy and sustainable and, for me, this is quite important in the world we’re living in. Once you kill the animal for meat, he is dead but milk coming from the animal is sustainable.”

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Ethical consumption

Consumers are growing increasingly concerned about where companies are sourcing food from and how it was farmed in respect of animal welfare. Cheese suppliers are being asked about how farmers treat their animals and what hormones have been used in the production more than ever as people are wary of the effects hormone-laded products may have.

On the subject of humanely reared cattle, Robin says it is important “not only on the intellectual side but also in terms of the quality of the milk”.

He explains: “If you rush the animal or stress them or don’t feed them correctly, the milk is bad so your cheese is bad. In France, we are lucky because 90% of our milk is Grade A. For a cheesemaker, it is important that people understand a lot of work, effort, tradition and know-how goes into making your simple piece of cheese.”

Smart storage

Just as consumers are growing interested in how a product is created, they are caring more and more about how fresh it is, which means chefs are demanding more transparency and optimum storage solutions. The storage of cheese varies depending on its type, “ranging from +2 to +18 degrees”, according to Abi Khalil.

Promar’s Khalil says that the shorter shelf life a cheese has, the more difficult it is to store, but that in general, cheeses have a long shelf life. “Clients avoid dealing with short shelf life products because it’s very risky; products could not be stored easily.”