Earlier last year, a criminal cheese gang made international headlines when the Russian police busted it for hauling $30 million of contraband cheddar. With Vladimir Putin’s ban on Western food products, Russians have been getting creative about procuring their beloved banned cheeses. Sound nutty? The U.S. also has a list of banned cheeses—primarily because of health concerns—resulting in a black market where cheese delicacies can be had if you know where to look and are willing to pay up.
“The rule in the U.S. is that you can import cheeses that are aged more than 60 days, like Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino,” says Dino Borri, purchasing director for Eataly USA, which stocks roughly 300 different types of (legal) cheeses in its U.S. outposts in New York City and Chicago. What types of cheeses are ruled out? “The FDA rule in the U.S. is that you can’t import fresh cheese that is not pasteurized.” This means that raw (unpasteurized) cheeses aged less than 60 days—many of which are some of the best kinds out there—are not currently allowed to be produced or imported here in the States.
The ongoing issue is a quite long and very complicated one. For instance, the 60-day aging rule in the U.S. dates back to 1949, and things escalated in 1996 when the FDA reported that bacteria could survive longer than 60 days in raw milk cheeses and the U.S. pushed for an all-out international ban on them. There’s too much to get into here, but in short, the FDA says, “Raw milk is milk made from cows, sheep, or goats that has not been pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria. This raw, unpasteurized milk can carry dangerous bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria, which are responsible for causing numerous food-borne illnesses.” On the flip side, raw milk proponents (a group that includes raw food obsessives, artisanal cheese-makers, and cheese enthusiasts, among others) believe it not only helps prevent ailments like heart disease and various types of allergies, but also makes for the most unique and expressive cheeses. “Natural bacteria in raw milk, and the other microflora present in dairy before heat treatment, lend a great deal of the flavor to the final product,” says the Oldways Cheese Coalition, an international group of retailers and cheese-makers dedicated to raw milk cheeses and other traditional cheeses.
While there are some phenomenal, domestically produced raw milk artisanal cheeses that are made in accordance with the FDA guidelines, cheese obsessives still want the extra-good stuff and are finding their own ways to get their hands on it. Some are lugging back their oozing raw milk Brie in their suitcases. “My friend brought cheeses back from France that we can’t get here, so I bought them off her,” said one fromage lover, who requested that her name be withheld from this article. Others score their illicit cheese through gourmet food stores and websites (Fromages.com has reportedly sold cheeses that are not legal here), and occasionally they get it from underground food clubs or from people making small batches of it here in the U.S. and selling it. “There was a guy [in upstate New York] who was making contraband raw milk Camembert,” Clark Wolf told The New Yorker. “It was incredibly good, but we always wondered if we would be dead the next day.” (It should be noted that said cheese-maker quickly moved on to a new career path, out of fear he would be hunted down by the FDA.)
“I think there is a black market for cheeses here, but we don’t deal with any of those kinds of cheeses, of course,” acknowledges Borri. “People are coming over to the U.S. and saying, ‘I was just in Italy. I had this amazing cheese there. Why don’t you have it?’ People understand what is good and what is not, and the demand is growing for weirder, more interesting cheeses.”
One of the most desirable contraband cheeses is the acclaimed Mont d’Or, or Vacherin du Haut-Doubs, a seasonal (made only between August 15 and March 15, and sold in the fall through spring periods) spruce-boxed alpine cheese that has been produced for centuries under the highly strict guidelines of the AOC, or Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, which protects the style, ingredients, and origin of certain French products.
Cheese connoisseur chef Ryan Hardy of Charlie Bird (and Pasquale Jones restaurant in NYC, opening soon) says, “It’s nearly impossible for us to get it,” he says. “By French AOC certification law, it cannot be made from pasteurized milk, so it can never be allowed in the United States. Its unctuous, creamy pate is only eaten when you peel back the rind. It’s then that you realize it’s the gangster, white truffle of all cheeses. This is the black market cheese. I don’t know if there is any other black market cheese that even exists compared to Vacherin.” Its Swiss counterpart, Vacherin Mont d’Or, however, is available in very limited quantities in the States because it is made with pasteurized milk. We managed to find this highly rare delicacy at Murray’s Cheese on NYC’s Bleecker Street in January (at a whopping $39.99 for a 12-ounce wheel), but when we called several other artisanal cheese shops around the country, like The Cheesestore of Silverlake or Artisanal Premium Cheese in NYC, it was sadly out of stock.
Cheese lover Beth Kirby of Local Milk, 2014 winner of Saveur’s Best Food Blog Awards for Best Photography, says, “I absolutely think some of the best cheeses are banned. I think what makes people passionate about them other than their complex flavor is that the FDA would ban age-old methods while allowing dangerous food dyes, chemicals, and all manner of other processing,” she says. “The ones that specifically interest me are young, raw Epoisses (like Epoisses de Bourgogne) and Camembert, though Tomme de Savoie and Morbier are all sadly illegal as well. French cheeses get the short end of the stick in the U.S., and in 2014 they arbitrarily lowered the cap on non-toxigenic bacteria in cheeses, which led to more import bans and possible difficulties for domestic raw cheeses as well. It’s important to note that these bacteria exist in our guts and have been present all along to no avail. In short, [they are] harmless.”
The rules regarding domestic and imported cheeses may be changing, and experts remain hopeful that these products might one day be allowed here in the U.S. “Years ago, they were totally different. When we opened Eataly, we were one of the few counters that had all these different types of cheeses. Now we have more and more, because the world has changed a lot,” suggests Borri. “We might reach a point where some of these black market cheeses are allowed in the future.”
With regard to these artisanal cheeses specifically in the U.S., the American Cheese Society (ACS) is working with the FDA to continue raw milk cheese production and find new ways to uphold safety while allowing these artisanal producers to make their cheeses. After a recent meeting this past December between the two organizations, ACS reports, “Both ACS and FDA expressed the goal of continued raw milk cheese production in the United States, growth of the artisan cheese industry, and the use of science as the basis for standard-setting and regulations.” It adds: “There is a mutual understanding that a one-size-fits-all solution may not be appropriate for an industry like artisan cheese-making. The growing variety of cheeses of different styles produced in this country may mean that some standards that are appropriate for one product may be ineffectual, unrealistic, or even detrimental to another.”
Until then, there are plenty of amazing cheeses that are being made within the strictures of the FDA worth sampling. Greg Blais, Eataly’s head cheesemonger, says, “Cheeses such as Parmigiano-Reggiano and our house-made mozzarella are excellent examples of cheeses that fall within the guidelines of legality. I love them because they are excellent examples of Italian cheese-making and a great way to promote the cheese and cheese-making culture.” Hardy suggests, “Cloth-bound cheddars and old Gruyere la Fort St. Antoine are extraordinary examples of legally produced cheeses that are at the top of their game. Twenty-four-month-old Marcel Petite Fort St. Antoine Comté is the kind of cheese that stands up to roast meats or a simple walnut salad.”