Rogue Blue Cheese Named World's Best Pt 2

Rogue Blue Cheese Named World's Best Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I’m Bob Larson. Sacré bleu! That was the cry recently from the French cheese industry after Oregon’s Rogue Creamery recently took home “Best Cheese in the World” from the 2019-20 World Cheese Awards.

U.S. Dairy Export Council CEO Tom Vilsack says we’re creating AND consuming more cheese than ever before …

VILSACK … “In fact, cheese consumption is at a record level domestically, which is important. And, from an export perspective, more of our cheese is going into the export market than ever before. And so, that’s a good thing because it’s increasing the value that we’re getting for exports.”

In fact, Vilsack says much of that growth has been recent …

VILSACK … “If we compare September of 2019 to September of 2016, before we began this export expansion effort, we see that sales amount to about $970-million more today than they did in 2016. Now, that’s a fairly significant jump when you consider that our export market is somewhere between a $5-and-$6-billion industry.”

So, Vilsack says we need to look at ways in which we can continue to innovate …

VILSACK … “Because consumers want new, they want something different, they want it to look different, they want to make sure it’s a healthy product that they’re consuming and I think we have a terrific opportunity here to showcase the importance of dairy as it relates to nutrition, as it relates to the fact that it provides more essential minerals and vitamins than any other, we like to refer to it as “nature’s perfect food.” It’s an opportunity for us, I think, to underscore that message.”

131 other U.S. cheeses also won awards, ranging from Super Gold to Bronze medals, at the World Cheese Awards.

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