Milk and dairy products have been part of the cultural gastronomic heritage of the Mediterranean for thousands of years. If Mediterranean cheeses are mouth-watering for the entire world, they also represent a vital economy for all producer countries. This Watch Letter aims at providing an overview of a sector of the Mediterranean economy that is often forgotten but which nevertheless represents hundreds of thousands of employments, an average of 150kg of dairy products consumed per annum and per capita in the Mediterranean and a significant economic market where the European Union is the global leader in the production of cow’s milk.