The challenges of being a vegan cheesemaker in Switzerland 

LOU STUCKI/New Roots

Despite using the same time-tested cheesemaking techniques, Swiss vegan cheesemaker New Roots has faced an uphill battle winning over consumers and peers. 

A love of fermentation was what motivated Alice Fauconnet and Freddy Hunziker to try their hand at making vegan cheese. Eight years ago, Fauconnet, a vegan chocolate maker, and Hunziker, a professional mountain biker, were experimenting with making their favourite foods at their home in Thun.  

“We were playing around with fermentation, making products such as kombucha and sauerkraut, and decided to try to make cheese. There was no vegan cheese on the Swiss market then, just tofu,” Fauconnet told SWI swissinfo.ch.  

Through trial and error, they succeeded in producing a camembert-style soft cheese made out of cashews. SWI swissinfo.ch found the characteristic rind to be indistinguishable from the real thing, but the interior is firmer and milder in taste. Thanks to a sizeable order by supermarket chain Coop and funding from sustainable investment firm Blue Horizon, the business was able to scale up from a market stall in Thun, in canton Bern, to a 4,000m2 factory in Oberdiessbach, half-an-hour by train from the Swiss capital, where New Roots is based today.  

Despite their success – the company has been profitable from the start and sold three million products in 2023 – expanding was not without its challenges. 

Attitudes towards vegan cheese 

New Roots’ bestsellers are its soft white cheese, followed by vegan fondue in the winter months.  Around 30% of New Roots customers are vegan (according to a Swissveg 2022 report, around 1% of Swiss women describe themselves as vegan compared to 0.2% of men). The rest are lactose intolerant, pregnant or people who buy their products for ethical, sustainable or health reasons.  

Vegan cheese is still a niche product in Switzerland. Fauconnet estimates that it accounts for around 0.5% of the Swiss cheese market. One obstacle in expanding market share is that New Roots’ branding revolves around animal rights, which resonates little with the Swiss, who consume an average of 293 kilos of milk and dairy products such as cheese, yoghurt and butter a year. 

“People believe that cows naturally make milk from grass for humans. They find the environmental argument to be less judgmental than animal rights,” Fauconnet says.  

Despite pressure from investors to drop vegan from the label and opt for plant-based instead, the company is sticking to its vision of putting animals front and foremost of the brand identity. 

Sourcing raw materials

Another problem is cost. New Root’s bestselling soft white cheese costs CHF6.63 ($7.50) for 100g at Coop, while the supermarket’s organic Swiss camembert costs just CHF2.68 for the same amount. The price difference is mainly because cashew, the main ingredient of New Roots products, has to be imported. It is an expensive ingredient to source ethically because the shelling of cashew nuts can cause acid burns on the hands of farm workers if unprotected.  

“Milk in Switzerland is highly subsidised. We on the other hand use high-quality, organic and Fairtrade cashews that get no subsidies,” Fauconnet says.  

There are plans to use more local ingredients, but it is proving difficult to find a replacement for cashews that has the right proportion of fats, sugar and protein. Since 2022, the company has experimented with Swiss lupine seeds and Italian chickpeas in some of its products. It has also teamed up with Zurich-based TransFARMation with the goal of sourcing more raw materials locally and helping Swiss farmers transition away from animal agriculture. 

Fitting into the Swiss cheese landscape

New Roots has had no trouble meeting government regulations, even though existing rules on food safety and hygiene were not made with vegan cheese products in mind.  

“We’re treated like a cheesemaker by the food safety authorities. There are strict checks, but they’ve helped us better understand hygiene and cross-contamination issues,” Fauconnet says.   

Even the Swiss cheese marketing board acknowledges the growing popularity of plant-based alternatives among consumers.  

“Vegetable proteins also have their place in our diet. In fact, it is likely to become increasingly important over the next few years. However, in order to preserve their nutritional qualities, we feel it would be preferable not to use them in industrial preparations, which are very often based on reconstituting various elements with binders and other texturisers,” Martin Spahr, chief marketing officer of Switzerland Cheese Marketing, told SWI swissinfo.ch by email.  

Fauconnet admits that it is a challenge for her brand to have vegan alternatives perceived as processed food. 

“Some of the negative reaction is from a preconception that it is a highly processed product with a lot of additives,” she says. “In fact, cashew and water forms the base of 95% of our products.” 

The biggest pushback has come from the Swiss milk lobby. New Roots faces constant threats of being sued over the use of the word cheese, and its packaging, website and social media are closely monitored. The only legal definition of cheese is found in the “Ordinance on products of animal origin” which naturally excludes vegan products. Article 50 states that “cheese is a product obtained from milk, which has been separated from the whey by the action of rennet or other coagulating agents or processes”. 

An information letter published by the Swiss Food Safety and Veterinary Office in 2021 tries to provide some clarity on vegan alternatives to animal products. Vegan versions of generic food products like cheese, steak or sausage are allowed on the market but not those traditionally associated with animal products like camembert or brie. When it comes to labels and marketing, the rules are more strict: vegan alternatives cannot pass themselves off as animal products. This means labels proclaiming “vegan cheese” or “vegan mayonnaise” are not permitted – only “vegan alternative to cheese” or “vegan substitute for mayonnaise”.  

“When communicating with the public, we attach great importance to fact-based communication and demand the same from other market players. Consumers must not be misled with false information or labelling. This can have particularly serious consequences when it comes to nutrition,” says Reto Burkhardt, a spokesperson for Swissmilk.  

“It’s a cat-and-mouse game. They can shut us down as they have a lot more legal and financial power,” Fauconnet says.  

She has reason to be fearful. Swiss alternative meat firm Planted has been taken to court after refusing to give up using product names such as “planted.chicken” or “Güggeli” (a Swiss-German term for chicken). Fauconnet believes there are ulterior reasons behind name policing. 

“The Swiss milk and meat lobby are not really concerned about consumers being confused but want to stop a threat to their own financial interests,” she says. 

Edited by Virginie Mangin/ts