International Ranking – Such a cheese! Swiss varieties don’t make it to the top spots – News


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Emmentaler, Gruyère: In an international comparison, they end up far behind in the lower ranks. Has the world lost interest in our national product?

A recently published ranking of the best cheeses in the world by an online magazine is likely to cause irritation among Swiss readers. While Italy dominates the top ten, only three (!) types of cheese from Switzerland make it into the top 50. Cheese types from Poland, Brazil and Portugal even end up ahead of local products.

Lots of Italians at the top

Parmesan, Grana Padano, Pecorino: It’s the great classics of Italian cuisine that make it to the top of the TasteAtlas rankings. Somewhat surprisingly, a Mexican representative, Oaxaca cheese, is in fifth place. You have to search a long time for the first Swiss representation: Gruyère comes in 29th place. Appenzeller (39th place) and Tête de moine (41st place) land even further behind.

Another major cheese nation does not fare well in the “Taste Atlas” rating either: France. The news provoked indignation from our western neighbor. The country’s largest TV station, TF1, devoted a separate article to the matter entitled: “Not a single Frenchman among the best in the world – has this been manipulated?”.

Legend:

The most popular Swiss: A row of Gruyère cheese loaves at the Green Week exhibition in Berlin. (2016)

REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

“It is certainly no coincidence that Italy is at the top of the ranking,” explains Martin Spahr from the industry organization Switzerland Cheese Marketing. If you were to look at the ranking of the best cheeses from Central Europe on the same page, Switzerland would suddenly be in a much better position.

The cheese market is competitive


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The most important export markets for Switzerland are the surrounding neighbours. According to industry representative Spahr, over 80 percent of Swiss cheese exports go to the European Union – above all to Germany, Italy and France. The US market also plays an important role. The Swiss cheese industry is present in these countries in order to be able to cover trends and special features. “The German retail trade, for example, works completely differently than the Swiss. There it is much more about the price.”

But Swiss cheese also has to compete with foreign competitors on the home market. “The cheese market with the EU is fully liberalized,” says Spahr. Foreign producers can import in this country without restrictions. In contrast to meat, there is no obligation to declare in gastronomy. “We have a disadvantage in terms of price,” Spahr admits.

Great cheeses, such as Gruyère or Appenzeller, are marketed as a variety. This means that although the same logo can be seen on the packaging, the cheese itself can come from one of dozens of participating cheese dairies in the region. Brand protection is a federal matter: under the designation “Appelation d’Origin Protégée” (AOP for short), Bern ensures that the products also meet the criteria. This is intended to protect Swiss specialties and promote regional production.

The comparatively poor performance of local cheeses does not worry him. «The work of our many cheese dairies in the country is very much appreciated abroad.» Switzerland did very well at the Cheese World Championships, which took place in Newport, Wales, last November. The same applies to the annual World Championship Cheese Contest in the US state of Wisconsin.

The trend is not on the Swiss side

Business was good for the Swiss industry for a long time. 2021 was a record year: 82,500 tons of the milk product left local cheese dairies. That was almost 7 percent more than in the previous year. But last year the numbers went down for the first time in a long time.

The main reason for the slump was probably the comparatively high prices for Swiss products in economically uncertain times. This put pressure on earnings, especially in Germany.

However, trends within the industry also point to difficulties. Fresh and soft cheese varieties, which are perceived as healthier, are becoming increasingly popular. A problem for local manufacturers – they have always relied on harder variants.

Jumi Cheese – Swiss cheese in London

“The industry has recognized this and sees potential for soft cheese to catch up,” says Julia Spahr, culinary expert at the “Schweizer Bauer” newspaper and a juror at last year’s World Cheese Awards. Nevertheless, she believes that the local cheese craft still enjoys a great reputation in the world.

Something that Marcello Basini, managing director of two shops of the Swiss cheese label Jumi in London, also observes. “It is more common for customers to ask for a specific type of French or Italian cheese when they come to us. They are then amazed at how many Swiss alternatives there are.”

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