Agropur celebrates success at the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest
LONGUEUIL (Québec) March 8, 2024 – Agropur is proud to announce that 14 of its exceptional cheeses earned medals at the prestigious World Championship Cheese Contest, held March 5-7 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
“We are incredibly proud of our cheesemaking teams and their achievements in this year’s competition,” said Jean-Phillipe Asselin, President, Cheese, US. “We are just as proud of their dedication to deliver the same high quality to our customers every day.”
Agropur earned five gold medals, four silver and five bronze in the contest, which drew entries from 25 countries. It’s the world’s largest technical cheese competition and is hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.
Agropur’s facility in Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil, QC, won gold for its cheddar aged one to two years. Agropur’s operations in Canada have earned gold medals for their cheddars in three consecutive World Championship events.
“We are extremely honored that our cheddar has been consistently placed among the world’s best,” said Stéphane LeGal, President, Categories, Canada. “It speaks to the incredible dedication, passion and pride our employees put into their craft.”
Agropur’s US Operations stood out in the mozzarella and string cheese classes. Mozzarella from its Luxemburg, WI plant earned both gold and silver while its string cheese produced in Little Chute, WI took the top two spots in its respective category. It was Luxemburg’s second consecutive gold for mozzarella. String cheese is a new product for the Little Chute plant, which participated in the category for the first time. The full list of winning cheeses include:
Class 1 - Cheddar, Mild (0 to 3 months) - Best of Class - Weyauwega, WI - Cheddar
Class 4 - Cheddar, Aged One to Two Years - Best of Class - Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil, QC, CAN - Agropur Grand Cheddar
Class 5 - Cheddar, Aged Two Years or Longer - Third - Weyauwega, WI - Cheddar
Class 11 - Marbled Curd Cheese - Best of Class - Hull, IA - Colby Jack
Class 15 - Mozzarella - Best of Class - Luxemburg, WI - Low Moisture Mozzarella, Whole Milk
Class 15 - Mozzarella - Second Place - Luxemburg, WI - Low Moisture Mozzarella, Whole Milk
Class 19 - Provolone, Mild - Second Place - Lake Norden, SD - Mild Provolone
Class 21 - Provolone, Smoked - Second Place - Lake Norden, SD - Mild Provolone
Class 21 - Provolone, Smoked - Third Place - Luxemburg, WI - Mild Provolone
Class 22 - String Cheese - Best of Class - Little Chute, WI - String Cheese
Class 22 - String Cheese - Second Place - Little Chute, WI - String Cheese
Class 28 - Feta - Third Place - Weyauwega, WI - Feta
Class 79 - Reduced Fat Soft & Semi-Soft Cheeses - Third Place, Weyauwega, WI - Reduced Fat Feta
Class 82 - Reduced Sodium Cheeses - Third Place - Luxemburg, WI - Reduced Sodium Provolone
The World Championship Cheese Contest has been held biennially. A jury of 53 experts recognized by the world’s top master cheesemakers assessed all technical aspects of cheeses entered by more than 400 dairy manufacturers. Of the 3,302 entries, medals were awarded to the three highest scoring entries in each of this year’s 142 distinct classes. Agropur won 11 medals in the 2022 competition.
About Agropur
Agropur is Canada’s largest dairy cooperative and one of the leading suppliers of dairy products to the retail, food service, and industrial sectors in North America. Founded in 1938, the Cooperative is a source of pride to its nearly 3,000 members in Quebec, Ontario, and the Atlantic provinces, and close to 7,500 employees. Operating 30 plants in Canada and the United States, Agropur generated sales of over $8.2 billion Canadian in 2023 and processed over 6.6 billion litres of milk. The Cooperative’s members and employees work together every day to achieve a shared vision, “Better dairy. Better world.”, aimed at developing their communities economically and socially while respecting the environment and animal welfare.
For more information: www.agropur.com/en
Source:
Agropur Dairy Cooperative
Information and interview requests:
Guillaume Bérubé
Director, Public Relations and Strategic Communications
Agropur Dairy Cooperative
(438) 506-5948
[email protected]