Cheesemakers in Britain are fighting back over the “demonisation” of their produce after adverts for cheese were banned during children’s TV shows such as The Simpsons.

A meeting yesterday accused the Government and “its renegade agencies without portfolio” of damaging the image of cheese and hampering future growth of the cheese market, worth £3 billion a year.

The furore has been prompted by a decision by Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, to adopt a nutrient profiling model to ban “junk food” promotions to children.

Under the formula, devised by the Food Standards Agency, cheese is deemed to be a food high in fat and salt and therefore cannot be advertised during teatime programmes or on Saturday morning TV. Cheese promotions are also banned during programmes such as Hollyoaks and Friends, popular viewing among early teenagers.

A survey published in The Grocer magazine, of 100 senior people in the dairy industry, confirmed that the overwhelming view was that cheese is under siege.

Only 2 per cent believed that the Government was supportive of the cheese industry while 52 per cent said that it was actively “anticheese”.

Some 22 per cent said that the Government and its health messages were a bigger threat to future growth than foreign competition.

One industry insider said: “Without a central coordinated approach to food education, the Government – and the current architecture of government – allows for renegade agencies to dictate policy without portfolio and send out messages that are ill-conceived and potentially devastating.”

Another said: “Our concern is not so much the impact of zero advertising to children – because there is hardly any – but on the message it sends out to parents and others about the position of cheese in the diet.”

David Curry, Conservative MP and chairman of Dairy UK, said: “Government agencies do not seem prepared to accept that cheese has well-established nutritional benefits. The idea that cheese is somehow a junk food is not only laughable but deeply damaging as we position British cheeses alongside the traditionally strong brands from the Continent.”

A spokeswoman for the FSA denied that it had used the term “junk food” or that it had condemned cheese. Its advice, however, is that hard cheese should be eaten in moderation as part of a healthy, balanced diet in view of its high content of saturated fat and salt.

An analysis for Ofcom two years ago found that only 20 per cent of advertisements for cheese or cheese products were shown during children’s air time. Of these some 90 per cent were for highly processed varieties, such as cheese strings and dipper products.

Big wedge

— £3 billion of cheese is sold in Britain every year

— 400,000 tonnes of cheese is produced in Britain

— 350,000 tonnes are imported

— 48% is the fat content of Cheddar cheese

—5% to 15% is the fat content of cottage cheese

Source: Times Database, Cheese.com

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