Cheeses That Are Illegal to Eat
Some cheeses come with a warning label. Others come with a prison sentence.
Around the world, governments have drawn firm lines about which fermented dairy products belong on your plate and which belong on a contraband list. The reasons vary wildly, from microscopic bugs to invisible bacteria to trade disputes that have nothing to do with food safety at all.
Whether you consider these regulations sensible precautions or bureaucratic overreach probably depends on how much you love a good stinky cheese.
Casu Marzu: The Maggot Cheese of Sardinia
On the Italian island of Sardinia, shepherds have been making casu marzu for centuries. The name translates to “rotten cheese,” which only scratches the surface of what makes this pecorino derivative so unusual.
Cheese flies deliberately lay their eggs inside the wheels, and when the larvae hatch, they eat through the paste while excreting digestive acids that transform the texture into something soft and spreadable.
The cheese is consumed with the live larvae still wriggling inside. Sardinian aficionados consider it unsafe to eat if the maggots have died.
The Italian government banned commercial sale in 1962, citing laws that prohibit foods infected with parasites, and the European Union followed suit. The Guinness World Records named it the world’s most dangerous cheese in 2009, though locals point out that nobody has definitively linked it to serious illness.
Despite fines reaching €50,000, an underground market thrives. Some Sardinians seal the cheese in a paper bag before eating, listening for the pitter-patter of suffocating larvae before digging in.
Époisses de Bourgogne: Too Raw for America
French monks developed this washed-rind cheese in the early 16th century, and it has remained a beloved delicacy in Burgundy ever since. The cheese gets washed with a fermented grape wine called Marc de Bourgogne during aging, which develops an orange rind and an aroma so pungent that it has allegedly been banned from French public transportation.
The cheese’s producer association insists this story is an urban legend, but it speaks to the reputation Époisses has earned.
The smell is not the problem for American regulators. Authentic Époisses requires unpasteurized milk and ages for less than 60 days, which violates the FDA’s core cheese regulations.
The agency established the 60-day aging rule in 1949, drawing on studies from earlier in the decade that linked typhoid fever epidemics in Canada to raw-milk cheddar. The agency worries that pathogens like listeria and E. coli can survive in young raw-milk cheeses.
In 1999, two people in France died after eating Époisses contaminated with listeria, though investigations suggested the cheese in question may have actually been made with pasteurized milk. Pasteurized versions exist in the United States, but connoisseurs insist they lack the complexity of the real thing.
Brie de Meaux: The King’s Cheese
This soft, bloomy cheese from the Île-de-France region holds the nickname “the king of cheeses” thanks to its aristocratic history and rich, buttery flavor. Artisans have been making Brie de Meaux using traditional methods for over 400 years, always with raw cow’s milk and always with a maturation period of about four weeks.
That four-week aging time puts it squarely on the wrong side of the FDA’s 60-day rule. American cheese lovers can find pasteurized Brie on supermarket shelves, but these products bear only a passing resemblance to the genuine article.
The protected designation of origin requires raw milk, meaning anything sold as true Brie de Meaux cannot legally enter the United States. French producers argue that centuries of safe consumption should count for something.
American regulators remain unmoved.
Mimolette: The Mite Controversy
This bright orange French cheese resembles a cannonball and tastes like a mild, nutty Gouda. Microscopic cheese mites burrow into the rind during aging, creating tiny craters that give Mimolette its distinctive moonscape appearance while contributing to its flavor profile.
For centuries, nobody in America had a problem with this.
Then in 2013, the FDA began detaining shipments at customs. Inspectors found mite counts exceeding six per square inch, the agency’s threshold for what it considers filth.
Thousands of pounds of cheese sat stranded in warehouses from New Jersey to California before being destroyed. The FDA cited concerns about allergic reactions, though no evidence connected Mimolette to any illnesses.
A “Save the Mimolette” campaign erupted on both sides of the Atlantic, and after more than a year of absence, the cheese returned to American shelves. Most versions are now available, though the extra-aged Mimolette Vieille remains restricted.
Importers believe producers now vacuum out the mites before shipping to the United States.
Vacherin Mont d’Or: The Seasonal Contraband
This Swiss and French specialty appears only from autumn to spring, when cows produce richer, fattier milk from their diet of hay and fodder. Cheesemakers wrap the soft wheels in spruce bark, which holds the oozing interior together and imparts a distinctive woodsy flavor.
Eating it involves scooping out the custard-like center with a spoon or baking the whole box for a fondue-like experience.
The French version uses unpasteurized milk and ages for less than 60 days, making it illegal to sell in the United States. The Swiss version uses thermized milk, a gentler heat treatment than pasteurization, which keeps it outside American regulatory approval as well.
Specialty cheese shops sometimes manage to acquire legitimate versions during the holiday season through means they prefer not to discuss. Murray’s Cheese in New York sells a thermized version under the name Chaudron d’Or, sidestepping the protected designation rules while offering Americans something close to the original experience.
Reblochon: Born from Tax Evasion
Farmers in the Savoie region of France developed this soft, washed-rind cheese in the 14th century as a way to cheat their landlords. When tax collectors came to measure milk production, farmers would hold back during the first milking.
The second milking, done after the collector left, produced richer, fattier milk that became Reblochon. The name comes from the local word “reblocher,” meaning to pinch a cow’s udder again.
Modern Reblochon faces a different kind of authority. The protected designation requires raw milk, and the cheese typically ages for about three weeks, well under the FDA’s 60-day threshold.
A pasteurized version called Le Délice du Jura provides a legal alternative for American consumers, though purists find it lacking. Authentic Reblochon features a creamy interior with a slightly nutty, earthy flavor that pasteurization cannot replicate.
Roquefort: Caught in a Trade War
This famous blue cheese from southern France carries a fascinating legal status. Made from raw sheep’s milk and aged in the limestone caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, it technically violates the FDA’s raw milk aging requirements.
However, the extended aging period and the natural mold development have historically allowed it to enter the United States with fewer obstacles than softer raw-milk cheeses.
The real threat to Roquefort has been political rather than biological. In 2009, the outgoing Bush administration tripled import tariffs on the cheese to 300%, part of a trade dispute over the European Union’s ban on hormone-treated American beef.
French producers predicted the tariff would end their exports to America entirely. The cheese became a symbol of transatlantic food politics, with activist José Bové leading protests that included damaging a McDonald’s construction site in 1999.
Tariffs have fluctuated since then, making Roquefort alternately affordable and prohibitively expensive for American consumers depending on the current state of trade relations.
Camembert de Normandie: The Real Deal
Walk into any American grocery store and you will find Camembert. What you will not find is authentic Camembert de Normandie with its protected designation of origin.
The genuine article requires raw milk from specific Norman cattle breeds and traditional ladling methods. It ages for about three weeks.
The FDA effectively bans this version because it fails to meet the 60-day aging requirement for raw-milk cheeses. French producers have fought the restrictions, arguing that the unique terroir and traditional methods make authentic Camembert safe.
American versions often taste milder and less complex, lacking the earthy, mushroomy depth of the Norman original. Cheese smugglers occasionally bring back wedges in their luggage, though storing soft cheese in a suitcase for hours can turn a benign product into a genuinely dangerous one.
Bleu de Gex: High Altitude, High Risk
This blue cheese from the Jura mountains dates back to the 14th century, when local artisans developed the recipe that small mountain dairies still use today. The protected designation requires exclusively unpasteurized milk, which keeps it off American shelves.
Unlike more famous blue cheeses that have found workarounds for the American market, Bleu de Gex remains relatively obscure outside France. The small scale of production and the strict traditional requirements make it impractical to develop a pasteurized version for export.
Americans who want to taste it must travel to the source or hope someone brings some back in their luggage.
Saint-Nectaire: Cave-Aged Contraband
This semi-soft cheese from the Auvergne region develops its earthy, mushroomy flavor while aging in natural caves for at least four weeks. The raw cow’s milk and the relatively short aging period combine to make it illegal for import to the United States under standard FDA regulations.
French producers have attempted to gain approval by demonstrating the safety of their traditional methods, but the regulatory burden of American certification discourages many small cheesemakers from even trying. The caves where Saint-Nectaire matures have been used for centuries, and locals argue that the beneficial molds and bacteria in those caves actively prevent dangerous pathogens from taking hold.
Morbier: The Line That Divides
You can recognize Morbier by the thin black line of vegetable ash running through its center. Originally, farmers created this division by covering the morning milk with ash to protect it until the evening milking arrived.
Today, the ash is purely decorative, added for tradition rather than function.
Authentic Morbier from the Franche-Comté region uses raw milk and ages for about 45 days, keeping it just under the FDA’s 60-day threshold. In 2014, the FDA blocked imports of Morbier along with several other French cheeses, costing one American importer roughly $250,000 in lost sales.
Pasteurized versions exist, but the raw-milk original with its subtle, fruity flavor remains out of reach for most Americans.
When Cheese Becomes Currency
The black market for banned cheeses reveals something about human nature. People will break laws, risk fines, and stuff their suitcases with contraband dairy products to taste something forbidden.
Quebec recently loosened its regulations on raw-milk cheeses aged less than 60 days, creating a new smuggling route for determined American cheese lovers willing to make the drive.
Some specialty shops operate in a gray zone, declining to discuss exactly how certain products appear on their shelves. High-end restaurants occasionally serve cheeses that technically should not exist in this country.
The FDA lacks the resources to inspect every cheese that crosses the border, and enforcement often depends on local priorities. Meanwhile, producers on both sides of the Atlantic continue advocating for regulatory changes that would let the market decide which cheeses deserve a place at the table.
A Question of Trust
The debate over banned cheeses ultimately comes down to whom you trust more: centuries of tradition or modern regulatory science. European cheesemakers point to generations of safe consumption and argue that their methods prevent the very pathogens American regulators fear.
The FDA counters that even rare outbreaks justify strict precautions, especially when vulnerable populations like the elderly and immunocompromised face the greatest risks.
Neither side will likely convince the other anytime soon. In the meantime, some of the world’s most celebrated cheeses remain tantalizingly out of reach for American consumers.
The 60-day rule endures. The mites keep munching.
And somewhere in Sardinia, the maggots continue to transform pecorino into something that is either a delicacy or a health hazard, depending on which government you ask.
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