Wisconsin Ag Connection - World Cheese Contest Will Have Record Number of Entries

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World Cheese Contest Will Have Record Number of Entries
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 02/24/2012

The World Championship Cheese Contest held in Wisconsin every other year will set a new record for number of entries. According to Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, which will host the competition in Madison next month, 2,503 entries from 24 nations around the world will bring their best products to this year's event.

"It's a wonderful challenge to execute the world's largest technical cheese and butter contest," said WCMA Director John Umhoefer. "We would like to congratulate and thank the world dairy community for supporting this exciting competition."

An international panel of 40 cheese evaluation experts will work three days at the Monona Terrace Convention Center to select medalists in a record 83 cheese and butter classes.

Cheesemakers and buttermakers will send entries to Wisconsin this week for the competition, including makers in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

Judges will work from March 5 through noon on March 7 to sniff, taste and examine each entry, working in teams of two. The top three scoring cheeses and butters in each class will earn gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Each two-person judging team pairs a U.S. judge with an international expert.

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