Hard cheese – we’re running out of halloumi
IT IS a must-have accompaniment at trendy barbecues, but Britain is facing a halloumi shortage in the hottest week of the year. Strict EU rules dictate that the Cypriot cheese, loved for its salty taste and meaty texture, must be made on the Mediterranean isle from at least 20 per cent sheep and goat’s milk. But farmers there are struggling to meet increasing demand from the UK, the cheese’s biggest market outside Cyprus.
Supermarkets are running out of halloumi almost as quickly as they put it on the shelves, with heartbroken shoppers telling of their frustration on social media. One wrote: ‘Are people panic buying it? I’ve been trying to get hold of some for two weeks.’
Now the main producer, Pittas, is sending emergency supplies across Europe by road to stores that do not want to wait the normal four weeks for it to arrive by sea.
‘It costs more money to send it that way but Brits love their halloumi,’ said company director John Pittas. Leading scientists are also addressing the issue.
A team from the Roslin Institute at Edinburgh University, where Dolly the sheep was cloned, is helping Cypriot farmers to increase their milk production to boost halloumi yields.
The institute’s Ricardo PongWong said: ‘The team in Cyprus are doing a fantastic job and they are already seeing benefits.’