Last Wednesday (22), Brazilian artisanal cheese producers were awakened with a novelty. After almost three years of waiting, the federal government finally regulated, through a decree, Law No.
Some important changes made cheesemakers optimistic. The first is the new artisanal cheese seal — created to identify products “made using traditional methods, with territorial, regional or cultural linkage and valorization”, which allows marketing throughout the country.
The second good news is that the law decentralizes the process, by allowing the granting of the seal to be carried out by any of the three spheres of inspection: federal, state and also municipal.
Finally, the granting of the Art Seal –another more comprehensive certification, which since 2019 includes dairy, meat, fish and bee products and also opens the door to national marketing– also extends to other spheres. Until today, the task was concentrated in the hands of the state inspection services.
Frenchman Christophe Faraud, president of the Associação Paulista do Queijo Artesanal, hopes that decentralization will expand the scope of the two certifications.
“I was in Brasília to sign the decree that created the Art Seal and a huge poster said that 175,000 family producers would benefit. Do you know what happened three years later? To date, just over 100 producers have the seal. pitiful, a shame”, he evaluates.
The dispute between artisanal cheesemakers and inspection bodies is old. There is such a mess of federal, state and municipal regulations, which often overlap in a contradictory way, that few producers are able to see a clear path to seek regularization of their cheese dairies.
Owner of Belafazenda, in Bofete (SP), Carolina Vilhena Bittencourt is one of the seven producers in São Paulo to have won the Arte Seal – five of her cheeses were certified.
Despite being a trained veterinarian, specializing in organic dairy farming and having several courses in cheesemaking in her curriculum, inside and outside Brazil, she could not win the bureaucratic competition alone.
“It was a very difficult process, the inspection system is very complex. Five years ago, I had to invest around R$ 2 thousand reais to hire a specialist to take care of the process”, he recalls.
Producers also complain about the attitude of inspectors. Portuguese living in Campos do Jordão for four years, Manuel Barroso, from Queijaria do Jordão, brought from Trás-os-Montes the expertise to manufacture artisanal cheeses – his family has been in the business for a century.
Your establishment has already obtained the Municipal Inspection Seal (SIM), which allows commercialization within the municipality, and is in the process of obtaining the state equivalent, the SISP. In his opinion, the inspection policy adopted in Brazil is wrong.
“In the European Union, the inspector is interested in listening to the producers. Here, the inspector arrives at the establishment like a policeman, instilling fear. If he sees something wrong, he only issues a fine or ban. this type of inspector at the door.”
Owner of Lano-Alto, in São Luiz do Paraitinga (SP), Peèle Lemos has just become involved in a new dispute – his cheese factory was closed on the 21st by the city hall.
The episode takes place almost a year after 120 kilos of their cheeses were destroyed by inspectors from the regional Agricultural Defense of the State, in July 2021, because they did not have SIM, a service that had not yet been available in the municipality.
At the time, the repercussion was such that it made the municipal machine work: in shock, the city government instituted the SIM and regularized Lano-Alto seven months ago. Now, he claims to be a victim of unprepared inspection.
“The demands that the inspector makes show insecurity and lack of knowledge of the legislation. And the law is progressive. It should receive a warning first, then a fine. Interdiction is a last resort, so we have already appealed”, he says.
Public bodies reject the accusations. Secretary of Agriculture of São Luiz do Paraitinga, Rodolfo Guimarães Machado, argues that Lemos “broke the relationship of trust” by trying to hide, at first, that he had a maturation cellar.
According to Machado, the existence of products not consistent with cheese production within the manufacturing space also contributed to the ban. “But we have every interest in clarifying everything in the best way,” he replies.
Undersecretary of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo, Orlando Melo de Castro says that, when there is a complaint about a producer selling products without inspection, it is necessary to act because it is a crime against public health.
“When the irregularity is found, the production is eliminated and the producer receives guidance on how to regularize himself, meeting the sanitary requirements”, he says.
A cooperation agreement signed between France and the State of São Paulo can help bring these two ends of the production chain closer together. During the first week of June, French specialists in artisanal cheese production visited seven cheese dairies in São Paulo, a cooperative, the Food Technology Institute (Ital) and the Animal Science Institute of Nova Odessa (SP).
The objective, according to Henrique Guimarães, an international advisor to the State Department of Agriculture, was to diagnose the sector’s problems and draw up an improvement plan, based on the French experience. As far as production is concerned, says Guimarães, the French were very impressed.
The bureaucratic problems, however, jumped to the eyes. Assistant agricultural adviser at the French Embassy, Franck Foures has heard many complaints from producers. “We saw that many stop working formally because of inadequate health laws for the little ones.”
Among the next steps of the agreement is the creation of a training school in partnership with France. Owner of Fazenda Atalaia, one of the cheese dairies visited, Paulo Rezende hopes that the initiatives get off the ground.
“We lack a training environment for this cheese-making culture that is being formed. The other day I was with an inspector from Mapa [Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento] who considered ten years a reasonable period for one action, and another ten years for another. Who can wait that long?” he asks.
Luckily, a large part of the artisanal cheese consuming public doesn’t seem to pay much attention to bureaucratic intricacies and continues to buy with an appetite.
Owner of the online artisanal cheese store Lá do Interior, Juliana Cavalcante works with up to 30 suppliers, from different regions, and says that, for her customers, whether or not having an inspection seal makes little difference.
“Some question, but we explain how the bureaucracy is and they understand”, he says.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
