Raw milk cheese is so much more than just wonderful food: it is the authentic expression of one of the best culinary traditions. It is an art and a way of life. It is a much-loved culture, heritage and landscape. And it's in danger of extinction! It is in danger because the values it embodies are at odds with sterilised, homogenous mass-produced food products.

We are calling on food lovers from everywhere in the world in the hope that they will quickly come to the defence of this noble cheese-making tradition. We need to defend something that has given us goodness and pleasure and provided us with a livelihood for centuries, and now risks perishing due to global hygiene controls imposed by mass production laws.

We are making an appeal with the aim of abolishing all of the discriminatory laws

established by the EU, WHO, Food and Drug Administration and other government bodies around the world, which unfairly restrict the citizen or consumer's freedom to choose and buy these cheeses and are weakening the livelihood of the artisans who make them.

We lament the authorities' intentions to impose prohibitive levels of production in the name of protecting consumer health.

We believe that on the contrary, prohibitions of this type will gain the opposite effect. The good bacteria in our unpasteurised cheese products is being harmed by excessive sterilisation procedures. At the same time, people's health risks becoming seriously compromised due to a diet based on sterile food alone.

If our immune system stops being “put to the test” continually, it will stop working and cause medical treatments to become ineffective. Also, all of cheese's sensory properties are preserved in non-pasteurisation.

We would therefore like to call upon everyone who has it in their hands to defend the diversification and complexity of our regional foods and the health and well-being of our rural communities: go forth and create an appropriate and flexible regulation system that is adapted to such a varied reality, which guarantees the necessary controls and portrays a positive outlook of the future of this noble tradition.

Once we have lost this knowledge passed down through the generations, these unique skills and sense of responsibility that this culture requires, we can never get them back.