Think Emmanuel Macron has problems? Wait until the French find out about the existential threat to camembert | Emma Beddington

With mass production of the cheese threatening to wipe out the bacteria needed to produce it, the troubled French president could do worse than throwing money at the problem

News so grave for France I can't quite understand how it hasn't provoked a general strike of its own: camembert is facing extinction.

The French Centre for Scientific Research has reported that the bacteria required to make the cheese - Penicillium camemberti - are dangerously lacking in genetic diversity. This is because industrial cheesemaking has become dependent on one strain of the bug, rather than using the vigorous, multicoloured bacteria of the past. Until the 1950s, camemberts had grey, green and orangey mould, apparently (I feel a bit queasy thinking about it), but the food industry wanted camembert white and velvety. If I understand correctly, the albino bacteria it selected aren't able to reproduce with other strains. Now, mutations mean the bacteria are also losing the ability to reproduce asexually, putting the whole stinking enterprise at risk.