A Brazilian Bill Seeks to Recognise the Queijista Profession
Bill 437/2025 was introduced in February 2025 by Zé Silva, a federal deputy from Minas Gerais affiliated with Solidariedade. It remains before Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies and has not yet been assigned a rapporteur.
The measure describes a queijista as a professional specialising in cheese sales and consumer guidance. The proposed occupation would cover work in cheese shops, delicatessens, grocery stores, warehouses and other retail outlets.
An occupation already used by the sector
Professionals in the industry began discussing a name for the role in 2017. The term later adopted was “queijista”, a Brazilian expression intended to identify people who connect consumers with cheeses through sales and product curation.
According to Falco Bonfadini, owner of Galeria do Queijo in São Paulo and one of the people involved in creating the term, the group considered names used abroad, including fromager in France and cheesemonger in the United States and Britain. He said the word “queijista” emerged after a ride-hailing driver used it spontaneously to describe his profession.
The work involves knowledge of production, ageing, storage, sensory assessment, pairing and commercialisation. Bonfadini said he entered the field 30 years ago, when no relevant course was available. He now coordinates Brazil’s first queijista training programme, established in Belo Horizonte, with classes covering legislation, good practices, pairing, administration and marketing.
Retail and training
Bonfadini said formal recognition would have a direct effect on retail. He described cases in supermarkets where employees transferred from other departments are placed in the cheese section without specialised training. “The employee is working in the cheese section because someone was absent. Then they take someone from the vegetable section and put them in cheese. Would you do that with wine?” he said.
Danilo Cavalcantti Gomes, host of the Papo de Queijo podcast, described the queijista as an intermediary between producers and consumers. He said the role was particularly relevant to small businesses and family producers that may struggle to communicate the origin and history of their products. “It is not enough to have a good product if the producer cannot position it,” Gomes said.
Gomes supports substantial training requirements rather than short courses lasting only a few hours. He said the professional also carries sanitary responsibility when recommending products that must be registered, inspected and free from fraud. Bonfadini and Gomes said legal recognition could raise the value of the work, including its pay, and support the wider supply chain by improving how Brazilian cheese is explained and recommended at the point of sale.
