My guess is food safety. Not quite real food safety, but also not made up. Some European cheeses are not available in here Australia because of regulations about how dairy products have to be processed (Pasteurisation I guess).

Not only might that logic work in China too, but the culture is less tolerant of a food-stuff what is after all curdled milk with a fungal infection. (And we in the west get grossed out by chicken feet!).

Food safety is a great way to backdoor agricultural import restrictions. Europe has been doing it for decades on GMO's.

Wasn't the American GMO's studies bullshit for decades as well? If anything, Europe has led the way in strict and unbiased testing.

True, and in Australia that could be somewhat plausible case that it is protectionism. But in China probably has no cheese-protectionism lobby. Though I suppose it might just be someone angling for baksheesh.

Isn't cheese from raw milk also banned in the US? Think this was a topic then EU and US discussed a free-trade deal.

Raw milk products are certainly not as safe as pasteurised products but many people are willing to take the risk to enjoy the product.

No, cheese from raw milk is not banned in the US. There are various regulations on it however. The raw milk cheese has to be aged at least 60 days and labeled as unpasteurized.

In the west we eat a lot more chicken feet than people think. Nearly any decent chicken stock is going to be made in part with chicken feet as they provide a lovely gelatinous component to the stock.

Wait til you hear how bread is made!

Because it is called so, if the mold on the cheese was red, I believe its consumption would be only encouraged.

But blue cheese, many blue stuff is banned in China, not only cheese.