For decades, big and small producers in the northern region of Normandy have fought over how their cheese could be labeled. The small makers — now fewer than a dozen — have to stick to strict rules to keep a “protected designation of origin” status, or P.D.O., bestowed by the European Union. They must use unfiltered, raw milk, more than half of it from the Normande breed of cattle, and make the cheese nearby, ladling the milk by hand into molds.

The runny, rich cheese that results from this defiantly pre-modern process, whose strong smell lingers on the fingers for hours, is labeled with the P.D.O. “Camembert de Normandie.”

Meanwhile, industrial makers have been allowed to label their product as “Fabriqué en Normandie,” or “Made in Normandy,” as long as the cheese factory was there. They can use pasteurized milk from any breed of cow.

Raw milk can contain dangerous bacteria like listeria, salmonella, E. coli, and even the tuberculosis bacterium. Pasteurization — named, it should be noted, for a Frenchman — means heating briefly to kill off harmful germs.

Modern precautions make the risks from raw milk far lower, but they are not foolproof; just last week, there was a recall of contaminated raw milk reblochon cheese made at a factory in the Alps. But devotees of traditional cheeses say that the care that goes into making them by hand, in relatively small batches, near the source of the milk, makes contamination much less likely.

Hard cheeses made from raw milk are safe because they age longer, becoming steadily more acidic, which kills bacteria. But soft cheeses are eaten “young,” and Camembert can be aged for as little as three weeks.

The United States has long forbidden the sale of raw milk cheese that is less than 60 days old. As a result, many an American cheese aficionado has, alas, never tasted what purists would call true Camembert.