The National Council of Appellations of Dairy Origin (CNAOL) has said sales declined by 60 per cent in the first month of the lockdown, CNN reports.

Michel Lacoste, CNAOL president, said French customers had “changed their habits and turned to basic necessities”, leaving the industry in trouble.

In an appeal to the French public, he said: “We farmers, producers, we were not confined. We didn’t stop working. We worked every day.

“So eat cheese, make a fair trade act to maintain the French culture, the French tradition, the French heritage, that we all share.”