What's caused such a media frenzy in France over the past few days? The humble Camembert box.

A cheesy news story has been capturing the attention of French consumers and making the rounds on social media: Brussels is preparing to vote on a regulation that would force the famous cheese from Normandy to get rid of its traditional wooden packaging.

The two main characters are killjoys: bureaucratic Brussels and those valiantly defending France's culinary heritage, forming the perfect ingredients for a fiery debate. But there are more holes in this story than Swiss cheese.

A draft European regulation on food packaging and the reduction of its environmental impact is currently under discussion. The text was published a year ago and is due to be put to the vote by MEPs in the week of November 20.

According to Sébastien Breton, secretary general of the Conseil National des Appellations d’Origine Laitières (National Council of Dairy Protected Designations of Origin, CNAOL), however, "the text provides for products with protected geographical indications (PGIs) and protected designations of origin (PDOs) to be exempted on the basis of their specifications." Frédérique Ries, lead rapporteur for the European Parliament, stressed "the importance of respecting the specific packaging of PGIs" in her report published in October.

The subject was not even discussed at the CNAOL's monthly meeting. Its vice president, Eric Chevalier, said that he had only heard about the news story through a press review. It was the same surprise for Jean-Charles Arnaud, the owner of Arnaud cheesemongers, who produces the tasty Mont-d'Or tied by a sprig of spruce and nestled in a box made out of the same wood.

In fact, media coverage of the topic began on October 20, with a visit to the Lacroix factory in Juvigny-les-Vallées, Normandy, with the local MP. The Lacroix factory produces wooden boxes for cheese, bringing it €20 million in annual sales.

The PR agency behind the story claims to be looking for French politicians and MEPs to support the bill, the current version of which, it claims, "requires all packaging brought to market to be recyclable by 2030, forcing the industry to set up a new recycling procedure." The problem is that recycling does not exist for wood and could be costly to set up.

Officially, the agency claims to be working on behalf of the Lacroix factory − a small company that can apparently afford to hire the services of a reputed lobbying firm. But one of Lacroix's major clients is none other than (world leader in dairy products) Lactalis, although its name is not mentioned in the press release.

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