
Why has the UK banned imports of French and Italian cheeses?
However if you are in those countries - or any other EU country - you can enjoy them to your heart's content.
So what's going on?
The UK's agriculture ministry Defra says that all imports of cheeses made in France or Italy with unpasturised milk are now banned.
This affects any cheese made with raw milk or unpasturised milk - including some of France's most famous cheeses such as Vacherin, Roquefort, Mimolette and Tomme. Brie made by small artisan producers is likely to be unpasturised, although factory-produced brie can be made with pasturised milk.
Advertisement
It affects fewer Italian cheeses as the big names such as Parmesan are made with pasturised milk, but artisan-produced mozzarella is often made with raw milk, as is pecorino. You can find a full list of the affected cheeses
here
.
Any cheeses produced before May 23rd are exempt, if the importer can produce the necessary paperwork - meaning that shortages will become apparent gradually, as some aged cheeses will continue to be imported over the next few months.
The rules mostly affect commercial imports, but theoretically also apply to holidaymakers wanting to bring back a wheel of lovely, stinky European cheese.
All of the above cheeses remain on sale throughout the EU.
So why the UK ban?
It's due to an outbreak of a cattle disease with the imaginative name of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) which, you will be surprised to hear, causes lumps on the skin of affected cattle. In France the disease is known as
dermatose nodulaire contagieuse
(DNC).
It is spread by the bites of flies and mosquitoes. Italy confirmed its first case in Sardinia on June 21st, 2025, leading the UK to revoke Italy's LSD-free status and suspend unpasturised imports. France reported its first LSD case near Chambéry on June 29th.
Quarantine zones are in place in the affected areas with a vaccination programme for the cattle, but cheese sales have not been suspended.
The UK's import ban also affects the import of live cattle.
Can Lumpy Skin Disease be spread by eating cheese?
No, there is no risk to humans from eating cheese that has been produced by a cow suffering from LSD, and in fact humans cannot get LSD under any circumstances.
The UK government says that it is acting to prevent the spread of the virus among British cattle - hence the ban on live cattle imports. It says that the virus can survive in raw milk, including cheese made with raw milk. So if a British cow ate a brie sandwich then it could get Lumpy Skin Disease.
That sounds like a small risk?
Frustrated cheese sellers in the UK say that the ban is disproportionate. Cheese-mongers told The Grocer magazine that the ban is "costly, illogical and deeply frustrating", saying there is no risk to people from these cheeses.
Advertisement
Shane Holland, a cheese retailer based in London, told
UK newspaper The Independent
: "The bigger question is, what is the ban for?
"We completely understand restricting the movement of live cattle. LSD is an infectious disease from cattle to cattle. But if we're talking about from cattle to milk, there's no cattle-to-human transmission at all. Even if there was the tiniest risk, it's not being consumed by cattle anyway."
A Defra spokesperson stood by the ban, saying: 'This government will do whatever it takes to protect British farmers and their herds from disease,' adding that most Italian cheeses, such as Parmesan, Mozzarella and Gorgonzola, should be unaffected as they are largely pasteurised.
However the UK is not the only country to impose a ban - Canada has also banned imports of unpasturised cheese from France, Italy and Switzerland.
Advertisement
Is this why Eurostar is telling me I can't take a ham sandwich on my journey from Paris to London?
No, that's a different issue, it's because of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in continental Europe.
Germany detected an outbreak in January but has since been declared FMD-free, however subsequent outbreaks in Hungary and Slovakia have persisted.
In response, the UK recently announced that it has banned imports of meat or dairy products from European countries where the virus has been detected, as well as Austria due to the outbreak in neighbouring Hungary.
However travellers are being advised that meat and dairy products from all EU countries are banned, which is why you may have received an email from Eurostar or ferry companies if you have recently travelled from France to the UK.
Foot and mouth disease does not affect humans but is highly contagious among cattle. A major outbreak in the UK in 2001 led to the culling of more than six million animals and cost the economy billions, devastating the livestock industry and tourism.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Local France
2 days ago
- Local France
French left urges Macron to act over US plan to destroy contraceptives
A State Department spokesperson told AFP this week that "a preliminary decision was made to destroy certain" birth control products from "terminated Biden-era USAID contracts." The US Agency for International Development, the country's foreign aid arm, was dismantled by Donald Trump's administration when he returned to office in January, replacing former president Joe Biden. Under the plan, some $9.7 million worth of implant and IUD contraceptives stored in Belgium are reportedly set to be incinerated in France. An open letter signed by French Green leader Marine Tondelier and several female lawmakers called the US decision "an affront to the fundamental principles of solidarity, public health and sexual and reproductive rights that France is committed to defending." In the letter, they urged the French president "not to be complicit, even indirectly, in retrograde policies," saying women's contraception products such as IUDs and implants were intended for "low- and middle-income countries." "Cutting aid for contraception is shameful, destroying products that have already been manufactured and financed is even more mind-boggling," Tondelier told AFP. The Greens urged Macron to request the suspension of the plan "as part of a joint initiative with the European Commission." They also called on him to back humanitarian organisations that say they are ready to redistribute the contraception products. Separately, Mathilde Panot, parliamentary leader of the hard left France Unbowed (LFI) party, also urged Macron and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou to take action. "You have a responsibility to act to prevent this destruction, which will cost lives," she said on X. Advertisement "These resources are vital, particularly for the 218 million women who do not have access to contraceptive care." The US plan has sparked outrage from global health NGOs, with Doctors Without Borders denouncing the "callous waste." "It is unconscionable to think of these health products being burned when the demand for them globally is so great," said Rachel Milkovich of the medical charity's US office. The State Department spokesperson said the destruction will cost $167,000 and "no HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed." Doctors Without Borders says that other organisations have offered to cover the shipping and distribution costs of the supplies, but the US government declined to sign off. US lawmakers have approved slashing some $9 billion in aid primarily destined for foreign countries.


Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
The battle for the EU budget - who wins, who loses?
Brussels has spoken! The European Commission presented its long-term budget proposal, kicking off tough negotiations over who gets what and who pays for it. Rich countries like Germany and the Netherlands have already rejected the numbers game as being too ambitious. But it's not only about politics - it's about who wins and who loses in crucial areas like technology, agriculture and climate action. Who will finally get their way? And what are the benefits for ordinary citizens? Questions for our panel this week: Kait Bolongaro, managing editor for Europe at MLEX, Tomi Huhtanen, executive director at the Wilfried Martens Centre and Dave Keating, Brussels correspondent for France 24. To say that the European Commission's proposal for a long-term budget would not survive in its current form, would be an understatement. For Chancellor Friedrich Merz the EU must do more with the money it has. This sets up a clash with fellow German Christian Democrat Ursula von der Leyen who believes that rising challenges need an adequate fiscal response - in other words: more money. Get ready for bruising budget battles that might last two years! Another fight over money: This time, it would make smoking, in all its forms, more expensive. The EU Commission announced a renewed push to curb tobacco consumption through higher taxation. At the same time, the World Health Organization is sounding the alarm bell: chronic public health problems are getting out of hand. As a remedy, the WHO is pushing countries to raise the prices of sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco by 50 percent over the next ten years through higher taxes. This would save millions of lives and raise 1.4 trillion dollars globally, according to the WHO. The move would help cut consumption of the products which contribute to diseases like diabetes and cancer. The WHO is now becoming an ally for the European Commission, which wants to modernize the EU's Tobacco Taxation Directive. A strong signal for public health or just another way to squeeze taxpayers? Can public health be improved by fiscal measures? Finally, panellists discuss the fast-fashion industry operating in Eurpope, as the hunt for super-cheap online bargains might get a little less attractive - at least in France. The government in Paris has hit Chinese ultra-fast fashion giant SHEIN with a €40 million fine for what regulators call 'deceptive commercial practices.' It's a major escalation in Europe's scrutiny of the fast fashion model. The blow comes two months after the European Commission found Shein guilty of engaging in illegal commercial practices under EU law, following a coordinated investigation with national consumer protection authorities. And earlier this year, France already presented new legislation targeting Shein and its Chinese rival Temu, imposing eco-taxes, advertising bans and influencer restrictions. Will these steps have an impact among consumers? Will they stop buying from those sites?


Euronews
3 days ago
- Euronews
EU regulators back climate-friendly inhaler
European regulators have given their backing to a new eco-friendly inhaler that could help curb health care's climate impact. Drugmaker AstraZeneca said the new inhaler has a fraction of the carbon footprint of its existing model, which uses a gas propellant to deliver a dose of medicine to patients and is already available in the European Union for adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). These types of inhalers may be small, but they pack a powerful punch, producing the same type of greenhouse gas as air conditioning and heat pumps. In the United Kingdom, they cause 3 per cent of the National Health Service's (NHS) overall carbon emissions, according to Asthma + Lung UK. Many of these gases are now being phased out in the EU for environmental reasons, according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). An EMA advisory committee issued a positive opinion of the new inhaler on Friday, and the European Commission, the EU's executive body, will make a final decision in the coming months. Other inhalers that do not use gas propellants are already available, and AstraZeneca's new model has a similarly low carbon footprint. The new option 'means patients and their clinicians now don't need to feel like they have to choose between the most appropriate treatment and the planet,' Pablo Panella, AstraZeneca's senior vice president of global respiratory and immunology, said in a written comment to Euronews Health. The new inhaler is already available in the United States, China, and Japan, and the United Kingdom signed off in May. AstraZeneca said it plans to transition its inhalers to the new model across the EU in the coming months, and that it hopes to roll the model out worldwide by 2030. The EMA said it 'works the same way and gives the same results in the lungs and the body [as] the product currently on the market'.