REPORTAGE
This is enough to encourage social distancing. The departmental council of Aisne (Hauts-de-France) has just bought 4,000 maroilles from seven producers in the region to help the sector, very affected by confinement. The units of this pressed cheese made from cow's milk, whose reputation rests above all on its very strong odor, will be distributed to charitable associations. A doubly united initiative, therefore.
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"-80% of turnover"
"It helps to start again", reacts Bruno Meura to the microphone of Europe 1. This producer of maroilles employs two employees in his cheese dairy. Since confinement, one is totally unemployed, the other works part-time. The cheesemaker hopes to be able to make them work full time again, but the health crisis linked to the coronavirus has dealt a blow to his activity. "For four weeks, we stopped manufacturing," he explains.
More sales, more requests. Even pre-orders have been canceled, he adds. "The time of confinement, I made -80% of turnover".
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The crisis affects the entire cheese industry
The order from the department, located in the north-east of Picardy, in the Hauts-de-France region, should help the sector to recover gradually after a period of containment which has considerably affected the cheese sector throughout the territory .
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Concentrated since mid-March on essential products, the French are turning away from "pleasure" products, including cheeses. The crisis therefore weighs heavily on the 54 French PDO cheeses which include Bleu d'Auvergne, Morbier, Munster, Tomme de Savoie, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, but also ... Maroilles .